''Palaeotringa'' is a prehistoric

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 fou ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

that was discovered by O. C. Marsh during the late 19th century American

bone wars The Bone Wars, also known as the Great Dinosaur Rush, was a period of intense and ruthlessly competitive fossil hunting and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope (of the Aca ...

. Its remains were found in the controversial

Hornerstown Formation The Hornerstown Formation is a latest Cretaceous to early Paleocene-aged geologic Formation (geology), formation in New Jersey. It preserves a variety of fossil remains, including those of dinosaurs, and contains direct evidence of the Mass morta ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

(United States) which straddles the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

boundary some 66 million years ago. Though it cannot be said if these birds lived before or after the

Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event, also known as the K–T extinction, was the extinction event, mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth approximately 66 million years ago. The event cau ...

, they were in all likelihood wading birds that inhabited the coasts of the northwestern

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

. Two

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are assigned to this genus nowadays, ''Palaeotringa littoralis'' and ''P. vagans''. They were for some time believed to be primitive, small

Gruiformes The Gruiformes ( ) are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means "crane-like". Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that ...

and later on placed in the

form taxon Form classification is the classification of organisms based on their morphology (biology), morphology, which does not necessarily reflect their biological relationships. Form classification, generally restricted to palaeontology, reflects uncer ...

" Graculavidae", the "transitional shorebirds". Though they appear to be early

Charadriiformes Charadriiformes (, from '' Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water ...

- and may well be so, for this

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

seems to date back to the Cretaceous - their remains are too fragmentary for

cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...

analysis to say anything more precise than that they are

Neornithes Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

like all birds alive today.Mortimer (2004) Instead of being Charadriiformes, they might be some distinct but rather basal member of the

Neoaves Neoaves is a clade that consists of all modern 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 ...

, close to the common ancestor of some or all of such birds as cranes,

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

s and/or

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

s perhaps. Although their exact origin is not known, it is likely that some primitive and probably fairly small ancestral birds of these lineages were around at the end of the Cretaceous. It may be noted, however, that the Hornerstown Formation seems to contain little else but marine and seashore animals. There exist two

distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provi ...

tibiotarsi from another bird species, specimens ANSP 13361 and

AMNH The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interco ...

25221. Initially assigned to this genus too, one bone each of ''"Palaeotringa" vetus'' was found in the Hornerstown Formation and in the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

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 lates ...

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 t ...

. Later analyses concluded that they were not of a ''Palaeotringa'' and at first the bones were assigned to '' Telmatornis priscus''. More recently, a reevaluation considered them neither close to ''Palaeotringa'' nor to Charadriiformes in general. Rather, the bones share some characters with Gruidae and Idiornithidae as well as the presbyornithid '' Telmabates''.Hope (2002) Much like with its erstwhile relatives, cladistic analysis is unable to resolve the affinities of this

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

for dearth of material.

Footnotes

References

* (2002): The Mesozoic radiation of Neornithes. ''In:'' : Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs: 339–388. * (2004): The Theropod Database
Phylogeny of taxa
Retrieved 2013-MAR-02. Paleocene birds Bird genera Charadriiformes Basal Neoaves Extinct birds of North America {{paleo-bird-stub