Falconiformes

The order Falconiformes is represented by the extant family Falconidae and a handful of enigmatic Paleogene species. Traditionally, most other diurnal bird of prey families Cathartidae, Sagittariidae (secretarybird), Pandionidae (ospreys), and Accipitridae (hawks) were classified in Falconiformes. A variety of comparative genome analyses published since 2008, however, found that falcons are part of a clade of birds called Australaves, which also includes seriemas, parrots and passerines. Within Australaves falcons are more closely related to the parrot-passerine clade than they are to the seriemas. The hawks, vultures and owls are placed in the clade Afroaves.

Falconiformes

Norbert Fischer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
raptorPBDB
Sits inside
AvesPBDB
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 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 299 occurrencesEocene — about 3 of 299 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 299 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 23 of 299 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 299 occurrencesPleistocene — about 218 of 299 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.5–7.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 261 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

299 occurrences of Falconiformes 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

299 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

28 formations

Santa Cruz — 50.35°S, 68.95°WSanta Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.12°WSanta Cruz — 50.35°S, 69.03°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WEpecuén — 37.22°S, 63.55°WEpecuén — 37.18°S, 62.73°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WSan Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WXiacaowan — 33.45°N, 118.20°ENuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarsland — 42.42°N, 103.87°WTremembé — 22.50°S, 45.53°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WAndalhualá — 26.68°S, 66.03°WHillgrove — 45.13°S, 170.97°ELujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WMonte Hermoso — 38.00°S, 61.00°WCerro Bandera — 39.27°S, 69.28°WCaleta Herradura de Mejillones — 23.36°S, 70.53°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WAdu Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EBecerra — 19.90°N, 99.13°WTielt — 51.01°N, 3.23°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Falconiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 260 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Falconiformes and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Falconiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,919 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 184 sites for Falconiformes, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

129 references

Each of the 299 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. 117 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 content3

Picture of Falconiformes

Credit
Norbert Fischer
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Falconiformes indet. · JODA:2579

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
klrxyz
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itAves through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Sharpe 1874)