Halcyornithidae

Halcyornithidae is an extinct family of telluravian birds thought to be closely related to the parrots (Psittaciformes) and songbirds (Passeriformes), and probably even more closely to the extinct Messelasturidae with which they are usually united in order Halcyornithiformes. Halcyornithids have been found in various Eocene formations in Europe and North America starting about 55 mya; slightly older remains may or may not belong to this family with certainty. Widespread and diverse in the Early Eocene of North America and Europe, halcyornithids are not found in locales later than the Middle Eocene, where they have so far been discovered in Central Europe only.

Halcyornithidae

Armin Reindl · 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
Sits inside
PsittaciformesPBDB
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 most 15 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 56 Mya and 41.03 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Paleocene — about 0 of 15 occurrencesEocene — about 15 of 15 occurrencesEocene57–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56.5 Mya40.5 Mya

15 occurrences of Halcyornithidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

15 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

6 formations

London Clay — 51.39°N, 0.84°ELondon Clay — 51.85°N, 1.28°ENanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WGreen River — 41.83°N, 110.82°WFur — 56.83°N, 8.75°ETielt — 51.01°N, 3.23°EMessel — 49.93°N, 8.73°E

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The named rock units Halcyornithidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Halcyornithidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Halcyornithidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

309 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Halcyornithidae, 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

8 references

Each of the 15 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. 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 Halcyornithidae

Credit
Armin Reindl
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Halcyornithidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itPsittaciformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Harrison and Walker 1972