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Gavia Fortis
''Gavia fortis'' is an extinct species of loon from the Zanclean age from United States. Fossils of this bird have mostly been found in the Yorktown Formation from North Carolina and two specimens recovered from the Bone Valley Formation in Florida. Remains of this species is mostly the bones that make up the wing, the synsacrum, the legs and feet. Olson & Rasmussen who described the species in 2001 noted that the bones are markedly more robust, indicating this is the third largest species of loon to have existed, after the common loon (''G. immer'') and the yellow-billed loon The yellow-billed loon (''Gavia adamsii''), also known as the white-billed diver, is the largest member of the loon or diver family. Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts and chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is ... (''G. adamsii''). The authors believed ''G. fortis'' is indeed close to the ancestor of both of the aforementioned extant species. Reference Gaviiformes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loon
Loons (North American English) or divers ( British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes . Description Loons, which are the size of large ducks or small geese, resemble these birds in shape when swimming. Like ducks and geese, but unlike coots (which are Rallidae) and grebes ( Podicipedidae), the loon's toes are connected by webbing. The loons may be confused with the cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae), but can be distinguished from them by their distinct call. Cormorants are not-too-distant relatives of loons, and like them are heavy-set birds whose bellies, unlike those of ducks and geese, are submerged when swimming. Loons in flight resemble plump geese with seagulls' wings that are relatively small in proportion to their bulky bodies. The bird points its head slightly upwards while swimming, but less so than cormor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zanclean
The Zanclean is the lowest stage or earliest age on the geologic time scale of the Pliocene. It spans the time between 5.332 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago) and 3.6 ± 0.005 Ma. It is preceded by the Messinian Age of the Miocene Epoch, and followed by the Piacenzian Age. The Zanclean can be correlated with regionally used stages, such as the Opoitian of New Zealand, and the Tabianian or Dacian of Central Europe. It also corresponds to the late Hemphillian to mid- Blancan North American Land Mammal Ages. In California, the Zanclean roughly corresponds to the middle part of the Delmontian stage. Definition The Zanclean Stage was introduced by Giuseppe Seguenza in 1868. It is named after '' Zancle'', the pre- Roman name for the Italian city of Messina on Sicily. The base of the Zanclean (and the Pliocene Series) lies with the top of magnetic chronozone Cr3 (about 100,000 years before the Thvera normal subchronozone C3n.4n). The base is also close to the extinction level o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yorktown Formation
The Yorktown Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in the Coastal Plain of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It is overconsolidated and highly fossiliferous. Description The Yorktown is composed largely of overconsolidated sand and clay with abundant calcareous shells, primarily bivalves. Stratigraphy The Yorktown unconformably overlies the Miocene Eastover Formation, and conformably underlies the Pliocene Croatan Formation. The Yorktown was divided into members by Ward and Blackwelder (1980). These are in ascending order: Sunken Meadow Member, Rushmere Member, Morgarts Beach Member, and Moore House Member. The uppermost Tunnels Mill Member is recognized in Maryland only. Notable exposures *Type Section: Yorktown, Virginia on southwest side of York River, York County *Carters Grove Bluffs, north side of James River *Moore House Bluff, southwest side of York River, York County (very close to type section) Age Hazel (1971) revised the age of the Yorkt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bone Valley Formation
The Bone Valley Formation is a geologic formation in Florida. It is sometimes classified as the upper member of the Peace River Formation of the Hawthorn Group. It contains economically important phosphorite deposits that are mined in west-central Florida, as well as rich assemblages of vertebrate fossils. Lithology The Bone Valley Formation consists of sandy marl that contains pebbles of phosphate and chert, fragments of bone, and other organic remains. The finer grained material is soft and plastic when wet, but hardens when dry.Matson, G.C. and Clapp, F.G. 1909. A preliminary report on the geology of Florida with special reference to the stratigraphy. Florida Geological Survey Annual Report, no. 2, p. 13-173. Age The Bone Valley Formation contains mammal fossils and its age has been determined by mammalian biostratigraphy. Period: Neogene Epoch: Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene North American land mammal age: Barstovian to HemphillianMorgan, G.S. 1993. Mammalian biochrono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synsacrum
The synsacrum is a skeletal structure of birds and other dinosaurs, in which the sacrum is extended by incorporation of additional fused or partially fused caudal or lumbar vertebrae and it can only be seen in birds. Some posterior thoracic vertebrae, the lumbar, sacral and a few anterior caudal vertebrae are fused to form a complex bone called synsacrum. The innominate bones are fused with the synsacrum to a greater or lesser extent, according to species, forming an avian pelvis. This forms a more extensive rigid structure than the pelvis of a mammal, fulfilling requirements for flight, locomotion and respiration. Posterior to the synsacrum there are a few free caudal vertebrae, the last of which is the pygostyle Pygostyle describes a skeletal condition in which the final few caudal vertebrae are fused into a single ossification, supporting the tail feathers and musculature. In modern birds, the rectrices attach to these. The pygostyle is the main compo ... to which the lon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storrs Olson
Storrs Lovejoy Olson (April 3, 1944 – January 20, 2021) was an American biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution, retiring in 2008. One of the world's foremost avian paleontologists, he was best known for his studies of fossil and subfossil birds on islands such as Ascension, St. Helena and Hawaii. His early higher education took place at Florida State University in 1966, where he obtained a B.A. in biology, and the University of Florida, where he received an M.S. in biology. Olson's doctoral studies took place at Johns Hopkins University, in what was then the School of Hygiene and Public Health. He was married to fellow paleornithologist Helen F. James. Early life and education Olson was born April 4, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois. His father was physical oceanographer Franklyn C.W. Olson. He was named after his maternal conservationist grandfather P.S. Lovejoy. Franklyn worked at the University of Ohio's Stone Laboratory on Gibral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamela C
Pamela may refer to: *''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'', a novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740 *Pamela (name), a given name and, rarely, a surname *Pamela Spence, a Turkish pop-rock singer. Known as her stage name "Pamela" * MSC ''Pamela'', a container ship launched in 2005 * ''Pamela'' (butterfly), a butterfly genus *''Perrhybris pamela'', a butterfly with the common name Pamela *Pamela hat, a straw hat named after Richardson's heroine, worn 1790s–1870s * ''Pamela'' (film), a 1945 French film * Super Typhoon Pamela, a typhoon in 1976 *''Una donna da guardare'', a 1990 Italian erotic movie *'' P.A.M.E.L.A.'', a first-person survival video game Songs *"Pamela Pamela", a song recorded by Wayne Fontana that reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart in 1967 * "Pamela" (song), a 1988 hit song for the band Toto *"Pamella", a song by Remmy Ongala from the album ''Songs For the Poor Man'' *"Pamela Wan", a song composed by Vhong Navarro in 2004, inspired by the movie Otso-Otso Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Loon
The common loon or great northern diver (''Gavia immer'') is a large member of the loon, or diver, family of birds. Breeding adults have a plumage that includes a broad black head and neck with a greenish, purplish, or bluish sheen, blackish or blackish-grey upperparts, and pure white underparts except some black on the undertail coverts and vent. Non-breeding adults are brownish with a dark neck and head marked with dark grey-brown. Their upperparts are dark brownish-grey with an unclear pattern of squares on the shoulders, and the underparts, lower face, chin, and throat are whitish. The sexes look alike, though males are significantly heavier than females. During the breeding season, loons live on lakes and other waterways in Canada; the northern United States (including Alaska); and southern parts of Greenland and Iceland. Small numbers breed on Svalbard and sporadically elsewhere in Arctic Eurasia. Common loons winter on both coasts of the US as far south as Mexico, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow-billed Loon
The yellow-billed loon (''Gavia adamsii''), also known as the white-billed diver, is the largest member of the loon or diver family. Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts and chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin and foreneck white. Its main distinguishing feature is the long straw-yellow bill which, because the culmen is straight, appears slightly uptilted. It breeds in the Arctic and winters mainly at sea along the coasts of the northern Pacific Ocean and northwestern Norway; it also sometimes overwinters on large inland lakes. It occasionally strays well south of its normal wintering range, and has been recorded as a vagrant in more than 22 countries. This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater, catching its prey underwater. Its call is an eerie wailing, lower pitched than the common loon. Taxonomy and etymology First described by English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1859 based on a specimen collected i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaviiformes
Gaviiformes is an order of aquatic birds containing the loons or divers and their closest extinct relatives. Modern gaviiformes are found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia (Europe, Asia and debatably Africa), though prehistoric species were more widespread. Classification and evolution There are five living species, and all are placed in the genus '' Gavia''. The loons were formerly often considered to be the most ancient of the northern hemisphere bird families; this idea grew basically out of the perceived similarity of shape and (probably) habits between loons and the entirely unrelated extinct Cretaceous order Hesperornithiformes. In particular '' Enaliornis'', which was apparently an ancestral and plesiomorphic member of that order, was sometimes used to support claims of Albian (Early Cretaceous) Gaviiformes. More recently, it has become clear that the Anseriformes (waterfowl) and the Galliformes are the most ancient groups of modern birds, and these bein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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