''Torotix'' is a

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent 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 ''cre ...

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 ...

aquatic Aquatic means relating to water; living in or near water or taking place in water; does not include groundwater, as "aquatic" implies an environment where plants and animals live. Aquatic(s) may also refer to: * Aquatic animal, either vertebrate ...

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 ...

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, or the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea (geology), inland sea that existed roughly over the present-day Great Plains of ...

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

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) 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 (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

. 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 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 ...

. Its deposits are dated to the very end of 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 ...

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 Caribbe ...

s, in the order

Phoenicopteriformes Phoenicopteriformes is a group of water birds which comprises flamingos and their extinct relatives. Flamingos (Phoenicopteriformes) and the closely related grebes ( Podicipedidae) are contained in the parent clade Mirandornithes. Fossil ...

.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 The Pelecaniformes are an order of medium-sized and large waterbirds found worldwide. As traditionally (but erroneously) defined, they encompass all birds that have feet with all four toes webbed. Hence, they were formerly also known by such ...

.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 ( ; 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 ...

study of the wing bone found ''Torotix'' not to resemble that of the

waved albatross The waved albatross (''Phoebastria irrorata''), also known as Galapagos albatross,Remsen Jr., J.V. (2008) is one of three species of the family Diomedeidae that occur in the tropics. When they forage, they follow a straight path to a single site ...

(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 in t ...

(of the

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 ...

Suliformes), painted buttonquail (an ancient charadriiform),

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

(a more advanced charadriiform) or a ''

Phoenicopterus ''Phoenicopterus'' is a genus of birds in the flamingo family Phoenicopteridae. Taxonomy The genus ''Phoenicopterus'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' to accommodate ...

'' flamingo noticeably more than any other. However, this comparison provided information only about ecological rather than

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

similarities. The

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Torotigidae was initially established to unite this genus with '' Parascaniornis'' and '' Gallornis''. However, the former is now considered a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''

Baptornis ''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 disc ...

'' (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; toget ...

of the group Galloanserae.

Footnotes

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