|
Fissuravis
Fissuravis ("fissure bird") is a genus of extinct bird from the Paleocene of Germany. A lithornithid, it was closely related to modern ratites, but it was a capable flyer.Gerald Mayr, The Birds from the Paleocene Fissure Filling of Walbeck (Germany), Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(2):394–408, June 2007 Ecology Hailing from the Walbeck Paleocene deposits, it is found amidst a rich avian fauna, which also included the gigantic ''Gastornis'' and the enigmatic ratite ''Remiornis''. Like most lithornithids, it was probably a very competent flyer, its coracoid remnants suggesting powerful flight musculature, and it likely engaged in a similar style of soaring flight to ''Lithornis'' and ''Pseudocrypturus ''Pseudocrypturus'' is a genus of extinct paleognathous bird. One species is known, ''Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius''. It is a relative of such modern birds as ostriches. It lived in the early Eocene. The holotype fossil is in the collection of th ...''. References {{ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithornithidae
Lithornithidae is an extinct, possibly paraphyletic (but see below) group of early paleognath birds. They are known from fossils dating to the Upper Paleocene through the Middle Eocene of North America and Europe, with possible Late Cretaceous representatives. All are extinct today; the youngest specimen is the currently unnamed SGPIMH MEV1 specimen from the mid-Eocene Messel Pit site. Lithornithids had long, slender, bills for probing. They closely resembled modern tinamous. They possessed a rhynchokinetic skull with relatively unfused cranial bones, a weakly fused pygostyle and a splenial. The unguals were more curved than in tinamous and probably allowed better perching in trees. The order Lithornithiformes was erected by Dr. Peter Houde in 1988. Initially, only three genera ('' Lithornis'', '' Paracathartes'', and '' Pseudocrypturus'') and eight named species were included. '' Promusophaga'' (Harrison & Walker, 1977) originally considered a stem-turaco The turacos m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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), Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiós'' meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch (which succeeds the Paleocene), translating to "the old part of the Eocene". The epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. The K–Pg extinction event, brought on by Chicxulub impact, an asteroid impact and possibly volcanism, marked the beginning of the Paleocene and killed off 75% of living species, most famously the non-avian dinosaurs. The end of the epoch was marked by the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which was a major climatic event wherein about 2,500–4,500 gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean systems, causing a spike in global temperatures and ocean acidification. In the Pal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aathal Dinosaur Museum
The Aathal Dinosaur Museum (Swiss German native name: Sauriermuseum Aathal) is a paleontological museum in the locality '' Aathal'' of the municipality of Seegräben in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland, and one of the few dinosaur museums in Europe. History Hans-Jakob Siber, a mineral and fossil dealer, started in 1977 to exhibit temporarily a fossilized giant turtle from four and a half meters in length at his annual special show in Aathal, and was featuring the eight-meter-long skeleton of an '' Edmontosaurus'' four years later. In 1992 the collection was expanded and in 1993 the ''Sauriermuseum Aathal'' in the current building was opened. The family-owned company ''Siber + Siber'' supported the funding of the further activities. Museum and excavations Museum The former building of the ''Baumwollspinnerei Streiff & Cie'' weaving mill in Aathal was built in 1903 and houses the museum on about , including the outside park on the surrounding property. The focus is on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Mayr
Gerald Mayr is a German palaeontologist who is Curator of Ornithology at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse. He has published extensively on fossil birds, especially the Paleogene avifauna of Europe. He is an expert on the Eocene fauna of the Messel pit. In 2022, alongside Thomas Lechner and Madelaine Böhme, Mayr described '' Allgoviachen tortonica'', a new genus and species of anatid bird from the Hammerschmiede clay pits of Bavaria, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe .... References German paleontologists German ornithologists Paleozoologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{paleontologist-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of , with a population of almost 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ratites
A ratite () is any of a diverse group of flightless, large, long-necked, and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwi, the exception, are much smaller and shorter-legged and are the only nocturnal extant ratites. The systematics of and relationships within the paleognath clade have been in flux. Previously, all the flightless members had been assigned to the order Struthioniformes, which is more recently regarded as containing only the ostrich. The modern bird superorder Palaeognathae consists of ratites and the flighted Neotropic tinamous (compare to Neognathae). Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum — hence the name, from the Latin ''ratis'' (raft, a vessel which has no keel - in contradistinction to extant flighted birds with a keel). Without this to anchor their wing muscles, they could not have flown even if they developed suitable wings. Ratites are a paraphyletic group; tinamous fall within them, and are the sister group ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walbeck, Börde
Walbeck is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen. Geography Walbeck is situated in the west of the Magdeburg Börde on the Aller River at the northeastern rim of the Lappwald hill range. It is located about south of Weferlingen, near the border with Helmstedt in the state of Lower Saxony. A nearby crack of karstic (Muschelkalk) galleries is the site of a significant fossil deposit with numerous traces of Paleocene mammals (Arctocyonidae) and birds. With effect from 1 January 2010, Walbeck and the neighbouring municipalities of Oebisfelde, Bösdorf, Eickendorf, Etingen, Kathendorf, Rätzlingen, Eschenrode, Döhren, Hödingen, Hörsingen, Schwanefeld, Seggerde, Siestedt, and Weferlingen merged to form the new town of Oebisfelde-Weferlingen. Walbeck Abbey Walbeck was first mentioned in 929, when the local Saxon count Lothair I was killed in a battl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gastornis
''Gastornis'' is an extinct genus of large flightless birds that lived during the mid Paleocene to mid Eocene epochs of the Paleogene period. Fossils have been found in Europe, Asia and North America, with the remains from North America originally assigned to the genus ''Diatryma''. ''Gastornis'' species were very large birds, and have traditionally been considered to be predators of small mammals. However, several lines of evidence, including the lack of hooked claws in known ''Gastornis'' footprints and studies of their beak structure and isotopic signatures of their bones have caused scientists to reinterpret these birds as herbivores that probably fed on tough plant material and seeds. ''Gastornis'' is generally agreed to be related to Galloanserae, the group containing waterfowl and gamebirds. History ''Gastornis'' was first described in 1855 from a fragmentary skeleton. It was named after Gaston Planté, described as a "studious young man full of zeal", who had discover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Remiornis
''Remiornis heberti'' is an extinct species of paleognath bird from the Paleocene of France. It is a species comparable in size to modern rheas, and possibly related to another European Paleogene ratite, ''Palaeotis ''Palaeotis'' is a genus of paleognath birds from the middle Eocene epoch of central Europe. One species is known, ''Palaeotis weigelti''. The holotype specimen is a fossil tarsometatarsus and phalanx. Lambrect (1928) described it as an extinct ...''. In spite of being one of the oldest ratites in the world, it is often ignored for Gondwana vicariance narratives.Buffetaut, E.; Angst, D. (November 2014). "Stratigraphic distribution of large flightless birds in the Palaeogene of Europe and its palaeobiological and palaeogeographical implications". Earth-Science Reviews. 138: 394–408. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.07.001. References Paleocene birds Paleognathae Prehistoric birds of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1881 Prehistoric bird genera {{paleo- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithornis
''Lithornis'' is a genus of extinct paleognathous birds. Although ''Lithornis'' was able to fly well, their closest relatives are the extant tinamous (which are poor flyers) and ratites (which are flightless birds). Fossils of ''Lithornis'' are known with certainty from the Upper Paleocene through the Middle Eocene, but their fossil record may extend to the late Cretaceous. "''Lithornis''" is from ancient Greek for "stone bird", as it is one of the first fossil birds to become widely discussed. Presumably closely related genera are ''Paracathartes'' and '' Pseudocrypturus''. Species Six species have been recognized in modern times; undescribed ones are also likely to exist. The supposed tarsometatarsus piece from which ''"Lithornis" emuinus'' was described is actually a humerus fragment of the giant pseudotooth bird ''Dasornis''.Houde, P. (1988) ''Lithornis celetius'' ''L. celetius'' is from the Bangtail Quarry, Sedan Quadrangle, Park County, Montana, USA, and was describe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudocrypturus
''Pseudocrypturus'' is a genus of extinct paleognathous bird. One species is known, ''Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius''. It is a relative of such modern birds as ostriches. It lived in the early Eocene. The holotype fossil is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. It has catalog number USNM 336103. It was collected from the Fossil Butte Member, Green River Formation, Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA.Houde, Peter W. (1988) Taxonomy ''Pseudocrypturus'' means false tinamou. The species name cercanaxius comes from ancient Greek words , tail, and , worthless, in reference to the rudimentary 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 compone ... of this species. Footnotes References * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q7254714 Bird genera Eocene genus ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Extinct")
