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Presbyornithidae
Presbyornithidae is an extinct group of birds found in North America, South America, East Asia, Australia and possibly North Africa. They had evolved by the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous and became extinct during the Aquitanian age of the Early Miocene. The family contains the oldest known neognath, ''Teviornis'' from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. Initially, presbyornithids were believed to present a mix of characters shown by waterbirds, shorebirds and flamingos and were used to argue for an evolutionary relationship between these groups, but they are now generally accepted to be waterfowl closely related to modern ducks, geese, and screamers. They were generally long-legged, long-necked birds, standing around one meter high, with the body of a duck, feet similar to a wader but webbed, and a flat duck-like bill adapted for filter feeding. At least some species were social birds that lived in large flocks and nested in colonies, while others like '' Wilaru'' we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teviornis
''Teviornis'' is an extinct genus of presbyornithid which lived during the Maastrichtian stage, around 70 million years ago. One species has been described, ''T. gobiensis''. It is the oldest known neognath along with '' Vegavis'', and its fossils are collected from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. Discovery and naming The fossils were collected at the Guriliin Tsav locality, northwest corner of Umnogobi Aimak, Mongolia. The holotype consists of a crushed partial right forelimb. These pieces include a nearly complete right carpometacarpus, two phalanges, the radiale and ulnare of the wrist, and a fragment of the distal right humerus. The catalog number of these fossils are given multiple times as PIN 4499–1, but they are listed as PIN 44991–1 on page 3, where the holotype is formally listed. This is probably a misprint. The genus name ''Teviornis'' is the Greek masculine word for bird combined with the name of Victor Tereschenko, the Paleontologist at the PIN who disco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilaru
''Wilaru'' is an extinct genus of presbyornithid bird from Australia during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene, around 26-22 million years ago. The type species is ''Wilaru tedfordi'', and the second species is ''Wilaru prideauxi''. Discovery and naming The type species, ''Wilaru tedfordi'', was described from fossil material collected from Lake Pinpa, Lake Palankarinna and Billeroo Creek, specifically in the Namba Formation of Lake Eyre Basin, north-eastern South Australia. The genus name ''Wilaru'' is the term for “stone curlew” in the Diyari language of the Lake Eyre region. The specific epithet of the type species ''W. tedfordi'' honours American palaeontologist Richard H. Tedford (1929–2011) of the American Museum of Natural History, who led the 1971 expedition to Lake Pinpa during which much of the descriptive material was collected. The second species, ''Wilaru prideauxi'', was first named in 2016 after the Australian vertebrate paleontologist Gavin Prideaux, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presbyornis
''Presbyornis'' is an extinct genus of presbyornithid bird from North America during the Paleogene period, between the Late Paleocene and Early Eocene. History of discovery The fossil record of ''P. pervetus'' includes many complete skeletons from Green River Formation sites (Early Eocene), suggesting that the birds nested in colonies and that they possibly died due to volcanism or botulism, the latter of which is similar to many colony-nesting waterfowl or shorebirds today. Fossils identified as ''P.'' cf. ''pervetus'' have been discovered from the Margaret Formation of Ellesmere Island, where the remains of '' Gastornis'' sp. have also been found. ''P. recurvirostra'' is known from a partial wing ( KUVP 10105) found in the Colton Formation, from the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene sediments of the Wasatch Plateau near Ephraim, Utah. ''P. isoni'', much larger than ''P. pervetus'', is known from the Late Paleocene Aquia Formation in Maryland, based on the partial humerus ( U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves, the clade consisting of all other modern birds except the galliformes and paleognaths. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed. Evolution Anseriformes are one of only two types of modern bird to be confirmed present during the Mesozoic alongside the other dinosaurs, and in fact were among the very few birds to survive their extinction, along with their cousins, the Galliformes. These two groups only occupied two ecological niches during the Mesozoic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lance Formation
The Lance (Creek) Formation is a division of Late Cretaceous (dating to about 69–66 Ma) rocks in the western United States. Named after Lance Creek, Wyoming, the microvertebrate fossils and dinosaurs represent important components of the latest Mesozoic vertebrate faunas. The Lance Formation is Late Maastrichtian in age (Lancian NALMA, land mammal age), and shares much fauna with the Hell Creek Formation of Montana and North Dakota, the Frenchman Formation of southwest Saskatchewan, and the lower part of the Scollard Formation of Alberta. The Lance Formation occurs above the ''Baculites clinolobatus'' ammonite marine zone in Wyoming, the top of which has been dated to about 69 million years ago, and extends to the K-Pg boundary, 66 million years ago. However, the characteristic land vertebrate fauna of the Lancian age (which take its name from this formation) is only found in the upper strata of the Lance, roughly corresponding to the thinner equivalent formations such as the H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murgonornis
''Murgonornis'' is an extinct genus of presbyornithid that lived during the Eocene. Distribution ''Murgonornis archeri'' is known from the Murgon fossil site in Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ..., Australia. References Eocene birds Fossil taxa described in 2023 Presbyornithidae Prehistoric bird genera {{paleo-bird-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telmabates
''Telmabates'' is an extinct genus of presbyornithidE. N. Kurochkin, G. J. Dyke, and A. A. Karhu. (2002). A new presbyornithid bird (Aves, Anseriformes) from the Late Cretaceous of southern Mongolia. ''American Museum Novitates'' 3386:1-11 bird from the Eocene Bird Clay Locality of the Sarmiento Formation of Chubut Province, Argentina. The genus contains a single species, ''T. antiquus''. ''Telmabates antiquus'' was named and described by Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ... (1955).H. Howard. (1955). A new wading bird from the Eocene of Patagonia. ''American Museum Novitates'' 1710:1-25 A second species, ''T. howardae'' was named by Cracraft (1970), but De Mendoza, Degrange & Tambussi (2024) moved ''T. howardae'' to the new species '' Wunketru howardae'' as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemegt Formation
The Nemegt Formation (also known as Nemegtskaya Svita) is a geological formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, dating to the Late Cretaceous. The formation consists of river channel sediments and contains fossils of fish, turtles, crocodilians, and a diverse fauna of dinosaurs, including birds. Description The Nemegt Formation is composed of mudstones and sandstones that were deposited by ancient lakes, streams, and flood plains. The Altan Uul locality was described by Michael Novacek as "a canyon carved out of a very rich series of sedimentary rocks" with "steep cliffs and narrow washes". The climate associated with it was wetter than when preceding formations were deposited; there seems to have existed at least some degree of forest cover as indicated by petrified fossil trunks. When examined, the rock facies of the upper section consist of braided meanders, and oxbow lakes. Alteration of sediment grades indicates frequent hydrodynamic condition changes (seasonal rain). Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neognath
Neognathae (; ) is an infraclass of birds, called neognaths, within the class Aves of the clade Archosauria. Neognathae includes the majority of living birds; the exceptions being the tinamous and the flightless ratites, which belong instead to the sister taxon Palaeognathae. There are nearly 10,000 living species of neognaths. The earliest fossils are known from the very end of the Cretaceous with the oldest known members being ''Teviornis'' and ''Vegavis'', but molecular clocks suggest that neognaths originated sometime in the first half of the Late Cretaceous, about 90 million years ago. Since then, they have undergone adaptive radiation, producing the diversity of form, function, and behavior that exists today. Neognathae includes the order Passeriformes (perching birds), one of the largest orders of land vertebrates, containing some 60% of living birds. Passeriformes is twice as species-rich as Rodentia and about five times as species-rich as Chiroptera (bats), which are the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wyoming
Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the south. With an estimated population of 587,618 as of 2024, Wyoming is the List of U.S. states and territories by population, least populous state despite being the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 10th largest by area, and it has the List of U.S. states by population density, second-lowest population density after Alaska. The List of capitals in the United States, state capital and List of municipalities in Wyoming, most populous city is Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne, which had a population of 65,132 in 2020. Wyoming's western half consists mostly of the ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains; its eastern half consists of high-elevation prairie, and is referred to as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filter Feeding
Filter feeders are aquatic animals that acquire nutrients by feeding on organic matters, food particles or smaller organisms (bacteria, microalgae and zooplanktons) suspended in water, typically by having the water pass over or through a specialized filtering organ that sieves out and/or traps solids. Filter feeders can play an important role in condensing biomass and removing excess nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphate) from the local waterbody, and are therefore considered water-cleaning ecosystem engineers. They are also important in bioaccumulation and, as a result, as indicator organisms. Filter feeders can be sessile, planktonic, nektonic or even neustonic (in the case of the buoy barnacle) depending on the species and the niches they have evolved to occupy. Extant species that rely on such method of feeding encompass numerous phyla, including poriferans (sponges), cnidarians (jellyfish, sea pens and corals), arthropods ( krill, mysids and barnacles), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
