Turdus merula

The common blackbird is a species of true thrush. It is also known as the Eurasian blackbird, or simply the blackbird. It breeds in Europe, western Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to Australia and New Zealand. It has a number of subspecies across its large range; a few former Asian subspecies are now widely treated as separate species. Depending on latitude, the common blackbird may be resident, partially migratory, or fully migratory.

Turdus merula

Andreas Trepte · CC BY-SA 2.5 · 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
common blackbirdPBDB
Sits inside
TurdusPBDB
Diet
insectivore, frugivorePBDB, for Turdidae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Turdidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Turdidae

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 21 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 21 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 16 of 21 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 4 of 21 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences774 ka – 11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

21 occurrences of Turdus merula 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

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

1 formation

Cromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Turdus merula has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Turdus merula and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Turdus merula and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

446 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 21 sites for Turdus merula, 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

15 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. 3 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 Turdus merula

Credit
Andreas Trepte
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
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 and MorphoSource were 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 itTurdus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758