''Torotix'' is a

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of aquatic

bird 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 lightweig ...

s. They lived along the shores of the

Western Interior Seaway The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, and the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea that split the continent of North America into two landmasses. The ancient se ...

, but it is not clear whether they were seabirds or freshwater birds, as the genus is only known from a

humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...

. Consequently, the genus contains only one known species, ''Torotix clemensi''. ''T. clemensi'' is represented by a single fossil specimen, a partial humerus (upper arm bone) recovered from the Lance formation of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by 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 sou ...

. Its deposits are dated to the very end of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

period, 66 million years ago.

Classification

''Torotix'' was first described by Brodkorb in 1963, who initially suggested that it was related to modern

flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbean) ...

s, in the order Phoenicopteriformes.Brodkorb (1963). "Birds from the Upper Cretaceous of Wyoming." pp. 50–70 in Sibley (ed.), ''Proceedings of the XIII International Ornithological Congress''. Later researchers thought it was more likely to have been related to the

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 ...

(waders/shorebirds).Olson, S. (1985). "The fossil record of birds." pp. 79–239 in Farner, King and Parkes (eds.), ''Avian Biology vol VIII''. New York: Academic Press. More recent comparative studies have found it to be most similar to Pelecaniformes.Hope, S. (2002). "The Mesozoic radiation of Neornithes." pp. 339–388 in Chiappe, L. and Witmer, L.M. (eds), ''Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs''. Berkeley: University of California Press. A

cladistic Cladistics (; ) 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 typically shared derived ch ...

study of the wing bone found ''Torotix'' not to resemble that of the waved albatross (a procellariiform),

northern gannet The northern gannet (''Morus bassanus'') is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and Northeastern North America. It is the largest seabird i ...

(of the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Suliformes), painted buttonquail (an ancient charadriiform),

black-necked stilt The black-necked stilt (''Himantopus mexicanus'') is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexic ...

(a more advanced charadriiform) or a '' Phoenicopterus'' flamingo noticeably more than any other. However, this comparison provided information only about ecological rather than

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

similarities. The

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Torotigidae was initially established to unite this genus with ''

Parascaniornis ''Baptornis'' ("diving bird") is a genus of flightless, aquatic birds from the Late Cretaceous, some 87-80 million years ago (roughly mid-Coniacian to mid- Campanian faunal stages). The fossils of ''Baptornis advenus'', the type species, were di ...

'' and ''

Gallornis ''Gallornis'' is a genus of prehistoric birds from the Cretaceous. The single known species ''Gallornis straeleni'' lived near today's Auxerre in Yonne ''département'' ( France); it has been dated very tentatively to the Berriasian- Haute ...

''. However, the former is now considered a junior synonym of '' Baptornis'' (a hesperornithine), while the latter may be a very early

fowl Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl (Galliformes) and the waterfowl ( Anseriformes). Anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives; togethe ...

of the group Galloanserae.

Footnotes

Pelecaniformes Bird genera Late Cretaceous birds of North America Fossil taxa described in 1963 {{Pelecaniformes-stub