Known only from a single toe bone, Hypselornis was originally mistakenly identified as a ratite bird related to the living cassowary before being re-identified as belonging to a large reptile, probably a crocodilian.

39733) was found in the late Pliocene aged Siwalik Hills of northern India, and was collected by Proby Cautley who presented it to the Natural History Museum in London.

This specimen consists of a single toe bone (phalanx), and was initially mistakenly thought to have been referred to Struthio asiaticus by Richard Lydekker in 1879.

[3][4] An etymology for the name was never given by Lydekker, but one was offered by ornithologist Charles Wallace Richmond as deriving from the Ancient Greek "ὑψηλός" (lofty, towering) and "ὄρνις" (bird).

It was first classified by Davies as belonging to a three-toe ratite similar to but distinct from emus and cassowaries, with a closer resemblance to the latter.