Casuariiformes

The Casuariiformes is an order of large flightless birds that has four surviving members: the three species of cassowary, and the only remaining species of emu. All four are placed in a single family, Casuariidae.

Casuariiformes

Nevit Dilmen ( talk ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
cassowaryPBDB
Sits inside
CasuariimorphaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 22 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 5 of 22 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 7 of 22 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 22 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence928 ka–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences15.98 Mya129 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

22 occurrences of Casuariiformes on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

22 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

9 formations

Waite — 23.70°S, 133.88°EWaite — 22.87°S, 134.87°EMampuwordu Sands — 27.75°S, 140.73°ETirari — 28.77°S, 138.42°EWipajiri — 27.75°S, 140.73°ECamfield Beds — 17.12°S, 131.52°EChinchilla Sand — 26.75°S, 150.63°EKatipiri — 27.75°S, 140.73°EOtibanda — 7.25°S, 146.50°EMoorna — 34.12°S, 141.65°E

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The named rock units Casuariiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Casuariiformes and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Casuariiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

247 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Casuariiformes, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

13 references

Each of the 22 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 1 further reference is not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Casuariiformes

Credit
Nevit Dilmen ( talk )
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Casuariiformes was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCasuariimorphae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.