Lithornis

Lithornis is a genus of extinct paleognathous birds. Although Lithornis was able to fly well, their closest relatives are the extant tinamous and ratites.

Lithornis

Richard Owen · 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
Sits inside
LithornithidaePBDB
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 1.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 57.5 Mya to 56 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 60.9 Mya to 48.07 Mya.

Paleocene — about 5 of 13 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 8 of 13 occurrencesEocene61–60 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences60–60 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences60–60 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences59–59 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences58–58 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences57.5 Mya – 56 Mya61.4 Mya47.6 Mya

13 occurrences of Lithornis on record. 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

13 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 — 51.25°N, 0.75°ELondon Clay — 51.39°N, 0.84°ELondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.68°WLondon Clay — 51.70°N, 0.27°ELondon Clay — 51.50°N, 0.13°WFur — 56.83°N, 8.75°EWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 110.50°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.77°WUpnor — 51.37°N, 1.13°E

Loading coastlines…

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

Found in the same rock

132 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 10 sites for Lithornis, 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

5 references

Each of the 13 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 content2

Picture of Lithornis

Credit
Richard Owen
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
Lithornis plebius · USNM:PAL:USNM PAL336534

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 itLithornithidae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1841