Lithornithidae

Lithornithidae is an extinct, possibly paraphyletic group of early paleognath birds. They are known from fossils dating to the Upper Paleocene through the Middle Eocene of North America and Europe, with possible Late Cretaceous representatives. All are extinct today; the youngest specimen is the currently unnamed SGPIMH MEV1 specimen from the mid-Eocene Messel Pit site.

Lithornithidae

FunkMonk · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
PalaeognathaePBDB
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 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 59.24 Mya to 48.07 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 61.66 Mya to 37.71 Mya.

Paleocene — about 8 of 21 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 13 of 21 occurrencesEocene62–61 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences60–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–59 Mya — about 1 occurrence59–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–56 Mya — about 2 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–55 Mya — about 1 occurrence55–54 Mya — about 1 occurrence54–53 Mya — about 1 occurrence53–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–51 Mya — about 1 occurrence51–51 Mya — about 1 occurrence51–50 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences59.24 Mya48.07 Mya62.2 Mya37.2 Mya

21 occurrences of Lithornithidae 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

21 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

11 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°WWillwood — 43.03°N, 108.38°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFur — 56.83°N, 8.75°EGreen River — 41.78°N, 110.73°WGreen River — 41.67°N, 110.67°WMessel — 49.93°N, 8.73°EFort Union — 45.80°N, 110.50°WBridger — 41.04°N, 110.23°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.77°WHeers — 50.71°N, 5.00°ETuffeau de St Omer — 50.53°N, 3.17°EUpnor — 51.37°N, 1.13°E

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The named rock units Lithornithidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lithornithidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Lithornithidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

259 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 18 sites for Lithornithidae, 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

9 references

Each of the 21 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 Lithornithidae

Credit
FunkMonk
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Lithornithidae was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itPalaeognathae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Houde 1988