Ptychoramphus aleuticus

Cassin's auklet is a small, chunky seabird that ranges widely in the North Pacific. It is the only species placed in the genus Ptychoramphus. It nests in small burrows and because of its presence on well studied islands in British Columbia and off California it is one of the better known auks. It is named for the American ornithologist John Cassin.

Ptychoramphus aleuticus

Duncan Wright · 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
Also called
Cassin's aukletPBDB
Sits inside
PtychoramphusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Charadriiformes
Mass
177 gWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 3 of 27 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 21 of 27 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 27 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.0–867 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 0.7 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 0.7 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence173 ka–0 Mya — about 16 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

27 occurrences of Ptychoramphus aleuticus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

27 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

2 formations

San Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.17°WSan Diego — 32.68°N, 117.07°WSan Diego — 32.64°N, 117.03°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ptychoramphus aleuticus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ptychoramphus aleuticus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Ptychoramphus aleuticus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

286 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 27 sites for Ptychoramphus aleuticus, 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 27 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 Ptychoramphus aleuticus

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

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ptychoramphus aleuticus · LACM:Birds:117815

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 itPtychoramphus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Pallas 1811)