Ectopistes migratorius

The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word passager, meaning "passing by", due to the migratory habits of the species. The scientific name also refers to its migratory characteristics. The morphologically similar mourning dove was long thought to be its closest relative, and the two were at times confused, but genetic analysis has shown that the genus Patagioenas is more closely related to it than the Zenaida doves.

Ectopistes migratorius

J. G. Hubbard, Internet Archive Book Images · Public Domain · 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
passenger pigeonPBDB
Sits inside
EctopistesPBDB
Diet
frugivore, granivorePBDB, for Columbidae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Columbidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Columbidae
Length
32 cmWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 36 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 36 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 22 of 36 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 13 of 36 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 33 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

36 occurrences of Ectopistes migratorius on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

36 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

1 formation

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°W

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The named rock units Ectopistes migratorius has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 35 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ectopistes migratorius and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Ectopistes migratorius and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,176 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 36 sites for Ectopistes migratorius, 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

26 references

Each of the 36 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. 14 further references are 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 content2

Picture of Ectopistes migratorius

Credit
J. G. Hubbard, Internet Archive Book Images
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ectopistes migratorius · usnm:birds

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 itEctopistes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)