"Samrukia" is an as-of-yet unpublished name (a nomen nudum, hence not in italics) for a genus of large Cretaceous archosaurs known only from a single lower jaw discovered in Kazakhstan. The holotype and only known specimen was collected from the Santonian-Campanian age Bostobynskaya Formation in Kyzylorda District. It is to be described by Darren Naish, Gareth Dyke, Andrea Cau, François Escuillié and Pascal Godefroit, and the type species is to be named "Samrukia nessovi". The species is named after Lev Nessov, a paleontologist, and the genus is named after Samruk, a magical bird of Kazakh folklore.
The type specimen of "Samrukia" was at first believed to belong to an oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur. An initial cladistic analysis by Naish et al. found "Samrukia nessovi" instead to be a basal member of the bird lineage Ornithuromorpha. They interpreted "Samrukia" as a very large bird (the jawbone is twice as long as that of an ostrich), but noted that it is not known whether "Samrukia" would have been able to fly (in which case they would have had wingspans of roughly 4 m (13 ft)) or not (in which case they would have been around 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) tall).[1][2]
A subsequent analysis published by Eric Buffetaut in 2011 challenged the interpretation of "Samrukia nessovi" as a bird. Buffetaut challenged the identification of certain "avian" characteristics identified by Naish et al., claiming that none were definitely avian and that many were in fact well-known among pterosaurs. He noted that all purported autapomorphies of "Samrukia", the unique traits used to set it apart from other birds, are shared with pterosaurs. He also criticized the earlier cladistic analysis for not including pterosaurs, but only birds and other theropod dinosaurs. Buffetaut stated that the species is "clearly a large pterosaur, not a giant bird."[3]