Pelagornithidae

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.

Pelagornithidae

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
OdontopterygiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB

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 110 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 47 of 110 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 9 of 110 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 40 of 110 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 110 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 110 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 1 occurrence27–25 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 4 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 5 occurrences13–10 Mya — about 5 occurrences10–8.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.4–6.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences6.3–4.2 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.2–2.1 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.1–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence59.24 Mya2.58 Mya63 Mya0 Mya

110 occurrences of Pelagornithidae 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

110 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

42 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°WNagura — 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°EPittsburg Bluff — 46.02°N, 123.26°WModelo — 34.15°N, 118.47°WTepetate — 24.34°N, 111.03°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WPurisima — 37.30°N, 122.41°W

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The named rock units Pelagornithidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 21 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pelagornithidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Pelagornithidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,637 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 87 sites for Pelagornithidae, 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

71 references

Each of the 110 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. 59 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 content1

Picture of Pelagornithidae

Credit
Pelagornis.jpg : Ryan Somma derivative work: Haplochromis ( talk )
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itOdontopterygiformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Fürbringer 1888