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Macrodontopteryx
''Macrodontopteryx'' is a genus of the prehistoric pseudotooth birds of somewhat doubtful validity. These animals were probably rather close relatives of either pelicans and storks, or of waterfowl, and are here placed in the order (biology), order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty. Description Only a single species, ''Macrodontopteryx oweni'', is known to date. Its remains were found in the Ypresian (Early Eocene) London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey (England), where they were deposited about 50 Ma (million years ago) in the Mammal Paleogene zone MP8-9. The fossils were at first assigned to ''Argillornis longipennis'', which is nowadays recognized as junior synonym of ''Dasornis, Dasornis emuinus'', a larger pseudotooth bird than ''M. oweni''. Due to the scarcity of their fossil remains, is not clear whether the pseudotooth bird species described as ''Pseudodontornis, Pseudodontornis longidentata'' is not the same as ''M. oweni'', though its size suggests that it ...
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Pseudotooth Bird
The Pelagornithidae, commonly called pelagornithids, pseudodontorns, bony-toothed birds, false-toothed birds or pseudotooth birds, are a prehistoric family (biology), family of large seabirds. Their fossil remains have been found all over the world in rocks dating between the Early Paleocene and the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary. Most of the common names refer to these bird, birds' most notable trait: tooth-like points on their beak, beak's edges, which, unlike true teeth, contained Volkmann's canals and were outgrowths of the premaxillary and mandible, mandibular bones. Even "small" species of pseudotooth birds were the size of albatrosses; the largest ones had wingspans estimated at 5–6 metres (15–20 ft) and were among the largest flying birds ever to live. They were the dominant seabirds of most oceans throughout most of the Cenozoic, and modern humans apparently missed encountering them only by a tiny measure of evolutionary time: the last known pelagornithids were co ...
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Odontopteryx
''Odontopteryx'' is a genus of the extinct pseudotooth birds or pelagornithids. These were probably rather close relatives of either pelicans and storks, or of waterfowl, and are here placed in the order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty.Bourdon (2005), Mayr (2009: p.59) Species and taxonomy One species of ''Odontopteryx'' has been formally described, but several other named taxa of pseudotooth birds might belong here too. The type species ''Odontopteryx toliapica'' is known from the Ypresian (Early Eocene) London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey (England) and slightly older rocks of the Ouled Abdoun Basin (Morocco). Its tarsometatarsus (e.g. specimen BMNH A4962) was for some time in the late 20th century believed to be from a giant procellariiform and called ''Neptuniavis minor'', but specimen BMNH A44096 – the holotype skull described by Richard Owen in 1873 – was the first pelagornithid recognized as such, and not assigned to some other seabird lin ...
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Dasornis
''Dasornis'' is a genus of the prehistoric pseudotooth birds. These were probably rather close relatives of either pelicans and storks, or of waterfowl, and are here placed in the order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty. Almost all known material of this bird is from some 50 million years ago (Ma) and has been recovered from the Ypresian (Early Eocene) London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey (England). The exception are a few approximately 45 Ma-old remains from the Lutetian (Middle Eocene, MP11-13) of Etterbeek (Belgium) that are only tentatively included here, and some even more conjectural remains from outside Europe (see below). Description Like those of its relatives, the thin-walled bones of ''Dasornis'' broke easily and thus very few fossils – though still far more than of the average pseudotooth bird genus – are in decent condition. Among these is a superbly preserved partial skull that has been of crucial importance in sorting out the convo ...
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Pseudodontornis
''Pseudodontornis'' is a rather disputed genus of the prehistoric pseudotooth birds. The pseudotooth birds or pelagornithids were probably rather close relatives of either pelicans and storks, or of waterfowl, and are here placed in the order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty. Up to five species are commonly recognized in this genus. But actually the genus ''Pseudodontornis'' is barely more than a ''nomen nudum''. And though it served as the namesake for a popular alternate common name of the pseudotooth birds – "pseudodontorns" or "pseudodontornids" – that was extensively used in the 20th century, current authors prefer "pelagornithids" because this is less fraught with taxonomic dispute. ''Pelagornis'', the type genus of the family Pelagornithidae, was long unrecognized as a pseudotooth bird as it was known mainly from arm bones. Thus, though the Pelagornithidae were long recognized as very distinct, they were allied with the cormorant and gannet in suborde ...
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Early Eocene
In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian Age. The Ypresian is consistent with the lower Eocene. Events The Ypresian Age begins during the throes of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The Fur Formation in Denmark, the Messel shales in Germany, the Oise amber of France and Cambay amber of India are of this age. The Eocene Okanagan Highlands are an uplands subtropical to temperate series of lakes from the Ypresian. Stratigraphic definition The Ypresian Stage was introduced in scientific literature by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont in 1850. The Ypresian is named after the Flemish city of Ypres in Belgium (spelled ''Ieper'' in Dutch). The definitions of the original stage were totally different from the modern ones. The Ypresian shares its name with the Belgian Ieper Group (French: ...
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Fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the ''fossil record''. Paleontology is the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are usually considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years old to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online before print. The observation in the 19th century that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led to the recognition of a geological timescale and the relative ages of different fossils. The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed scientists to quantitatively measure the ...
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Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of . Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, historically a somewhat larger region than the Benelux group of states, as it also included parts of northern France. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven. Belgium is a sovereign state and a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional ...
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Etterbeek
Etterbeek ( French: ; Dutch: ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the municipalities of Auderghem, the City of Brussels, Ixelles, Schaerbeek, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). The main university campus of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is called ''Campus Etterbeek'', although it is geographically not within Etterbeek but in the adjacent Ixelles. History Origins and etymology According to legend, Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, daughter of Pippin of Landen, founded a chapel there in the 8th century. A document by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, dated 966, mentions the church of ''Iatrebache''. The name ''Ietrebecca''—possibly from the Celtic root ''ett'' meaning "rapid movement" and the Dutch word ''beek'' meaning "stream"—is found for the first time in a document dated 1127. The cur ...
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Middle Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', "dawn") and (''kainós'', "new") and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C. The end is set at a major extinction event called the ''Grande Coupure'' (the "Great Break" in continuity) or the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event, which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay. As with other geologic periods, the strata that define the start and end of the ...
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Lutetian
The Lutetian is, in the geologic timescale, a stage or age in the Eocene. It spans the time between . The Lutetian is preceded by the Ypresian and is followed by the Bartonian. Together with the Bartonian it is sometimes referred to as the Middle Eocene Subepoch. Stratigraphic definition The Lutetian was named after Lutetia, the Latin name for the city of Paris. The Lutetian Stage was introduced in scientific literature by French geologist Albert de Lapparent in 1883 and revised by A. Blondeau in 1981. The base of the Lutetian Stage is at the first appearance of the nanofossil ''Blackites inflatus'', according to an official reference profile (GSSP) established in 2011. Of two candidates located in Spain, the Gorrondatxe section was chosen.See thwebsite of Eustoquio Molinafor these candidates. The top of the Lutetian (the base of the Bartonian) is at the first appearance of calcareous nanoplankton species ''Reticulofenestra reticulata''. The Lutetian overlaps with the Geisel ...
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Wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird. The term wingspan, more technically extent, is also used for other winged animals such as pterosaurs, bats, insects, etc., and other aircraft such as ornithopters. In humans, the term wingspan also refers to the arm span, which is distance between the length from one end of an individual's arms (measured at the fingertips) to the other when raised parallel to the ground at shoulder height at a 90º angle. Former professional basketball player Manute Bol stood at and owned one of the largest wingspans at . Wingspan of aircraft The wingspan of an aircraft is always measured in a straight line, from wingtip to wingtip, independently of wing shape or sweep. Implications for aircraft design and anima ...
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Beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship, and feeding young. The terms ''beak'' and ''rostrum'' are also used to refer to a similar mouth part in some ornithischians, pterosaurs, cetaceans, dicynodonts, anuran tadpoles, monotremes (i.e. echidnas and platypuses, which have a beak-like structure), sirens, pufferfish, billfishes and cephalopods. Although beaks vary significantly in size, shape, color and texture, they share a similar underlying structure. Two bony projections – the upper and lower mandibles – are covered with a thin keratinized layer of epidermis known as the rhamphotheca. In most species, two holes called ''nares'' lead to the respiratory system. Etymology Although the word "beak" was, in the past, generally restricted to the sharpened bills o ...
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