Hesperornis

Hesperornis is a genus of cormorant-like ornithuran that spanned throughout the Campanian age, and possibly even up to the early Maastrichtian age, of the Late Cretaceous period. One of the lesser-known discoveries of the paleontologist O. C. Marsh in the late 19th century Bone Wars, it was an early find in the history of avian paleontology. Locations for Hesperornis fossils include the Late Cretaceous marine limestones from Kansas and the marine shales from Canada. Nine species are recognised, eight of which have been recovered from rocks in North America and one from Russia.

Hesperornis

Ryan Schwark · CC0 · 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
HesperornithidaePBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB
Life habit
aquaticPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Hesperornithiformes

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 65 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 65 of 65 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 65 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 6 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 6 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 6 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 6 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 6 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 6 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 6 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 6 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 6 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 2 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83.6 Mya72.2 Mya101.2 Mya65.3 Mya

65 occurrences of Hesperornis on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

65 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

15 formations

Pierre Shale — 49.18°N, 98.10°WPierre Shale — 49.22°N, 98.20°WPierre Shale — 49.33°N, 98.31°WPierre Shale — 44.00°N, 103.25°WPierre Shale — 43.01°N, 103.30°WPierre Shale — 43.58°N, 103.20°WRybushka — 44.68°N, 39.08°ERybushka — 51.25°N, 45.36°ENiobrara — 39.00°N, 101.00°WNiobrara — 38.92°N, 101.18°WKanguk — 79.75°N, 85.60°WSmoking Hills — 69.72°N, 129.00°WMason River — 69.72°N, 129.00°WForemost — 53.25°N, 105.08°WCarlile — 49.48°N, 98.44°WJudith River — 48.97°N, 110.55°WClaggett — 47.73°N, 109.62°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WIgnek — 69.42°N, 148.27°WOzan — 33.85°N, 93.72°WMarlbrook Marl — 34.01°N, 93.33°W

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The named rock units Hesperornis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hesperornis and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Hesperornis and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

124 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 50 sites for Hesperornis, 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

23 references

Each of the 65 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. 11 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 Hesperornis

Credit
Ryan Schwark
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itHesperornithidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1872