it was originally described from a distal left tibiotarsus piece (specimen bmnh a843); a toe phalanx bone found soon thereafter was tentatively assigned to this bird. "eremopezus" was initially believed a ratite and loosely allied with the elephant birds of madagascar. thus, when a piece of tarsometatarsus shaft was found some time later north of the ruins of dimeh (dimê; itself a bit north of the birket qarun) this was described as stromeria fajumensis; though it had a size to match the holotype tibiotarsus it was thought to resemble an elephant bird even more. the shaft (specimen bspg 1914 i 53) has a prominent plantar (backside) ridge also found in "mullerornis betsilei", and this was used to ally the fossil bone with this rather small and gracile elephant bird. the "eremopezus" specimen on the other hand has deep ligamental pits on the lateral and medial sides of the distal condyles, which are not found in the elephant birds proper. these pits together with a crisply defined ridge held a sling of ligament, which in turn—in place of the bony supratendinal bridge found in some other birds—kept the ankle tendons from dislocating. the tarsometatarsus is also more similar to that of an unspecific ratite, such as an emu, ostrich or rhea, rather than to the apomorphic one of the elephant birds.