Odontopterygiformes

The Pelagornithidae, commonly called pelagornithids, pseudodontorns, bony-toothed birds, false-toothed birds or pseudotooth birds, are a prehistoric family of large seabirds. Their fossil remains have been found all over the world in rocks dating between the Early Paleocene and the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary.

Odontopterygiformes

Pelagornis.jpg : Ryan Somma derivative work: Haplochromis ( talk ) · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
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 56 million years on record.

The record covers at least 59.24 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 61.66 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Paleocene — about 4 of 113 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 47 of 113 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 10 of 113 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 41 of 113 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 113 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 113 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 2 occurrences59–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–55 Mya — about 5 occurrences55–52 Mya — about 6 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 6 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 6 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 3 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 2 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 3 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 4 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–19 Mya — about 4 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 6 occurrences13–10 Mya — about 6 occurrences10–8.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.4–6.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences6.3–4.2 Mya — about 7 occurrences4.2–2.1 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.1–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence59.24 Mya2.58 Mya63 Mya0 Mya

113 occurrences of Odontopterygiformes 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

113 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

44 formations

London Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WBahía Inglesa — 27.08°S, 70.84°WBahía Inglesa — 27.12°S, 70.90°WBahía Inglesa — 27.33°S, 70.84°WBahía Inglesa — 27.17°S, 70.87°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.67°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.70°WMonterey — 34.95°N, 120.14°WBrussels — 50.61°N, 4.44°EBrussels — 50.83°N, 4.39°ENye — 44.57°N, 124.07°WNye — 44.65°N, 124.05°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WKeasey — 45.77°N, 123.24°WKeasey — 45.88°N, 123.31°WOi — 34.74°N, 136.37°EOi — 35.08°N, 137.18°EBuchak — 49.53°N, 39.07°ECalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WYamaga — 33.86°N, 130.89°EYamaga — 33.85°N, 130.71°ENagura — 35.99°N, 139.08°EChandler Bridge — 32.90°N, 80.04°WChandler Bridge — 32.97°N, 80.15°WAshley — 32.89°N, 79.84°WAshley — 32.83°N, 79.99°WAridal — 25.09°N, 13.89°WAridal — 25.44°N, 13.72°WTielt — 51.01°N, 3.23°EAstoria — 46.19°N, 123.83°WAstoria — 44.73°N, 124.06°WTangahoe — 39.58°S, 174.28°ETatsunokuchi — 39.07°N, 141.18°EPittsburg Bluff — 46.02°N, 123.26°WModelo — 34.15°N, 118.47°WTepetate — 24.34°N, 111.03°W

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The named rock units Odontopterygiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 21 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Odontopterygiformes and its relatives

Eocene

Where Odontopterygiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,665 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 90 sites for Odontopterygiformes, 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

73 references

Each of the 113 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. 61 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 Odontopterygiformes

Credit
Pelagornis.jpg : Ryan Somma derivative work: Haplochromis ( talk )
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
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 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 EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Howard 1957