''Caspiodontornis'' is a
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 nom ...
of the
prehistoric pseudotooth bird
The Pelagornithidae, commonly called pelagornithids, pseudodontorns, bony-toothed birds, false-toothed birds or pseudotooth birds, are a prehistoric family of large seabirds. Their fossil remains have been found all over the world in rocks dating ...
s of somewhat doubtful validity. These were probably rather close relatives of either
pelicans and
storks, or of
waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...
, and are here placed in the
order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty.
Only a single
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
, ''Caspiodontornis kobystanicus'', is known to date. Its remains – a fairly complete skull and
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 foo ...
– were found in early
Late Oligocene
The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale, the younger of two ages or upper of two stages of the Oligocene Epoch/ Series. It spans the time between . The Chattian is preceded by the Rupelian and is followed by the Aquitanian (the lowest stage ...
(Chattian,
MP25-30) rocks at
Pirəkəşkül
Perekeshkul (also, Perekeşkül, Pirəkəşkül, Perekeshkul’, Perekischkjul, Perekishkyul’, and Pirekeshkyul’) is a village in the Absheron Rayon of Azerbaijan. The village forms part of the municipality of Pirəkəşkül-Qobustan.
Pereke ...
(
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
). From the same deposits the supposed giant
swan ''
Guguschia nailiae'' was described earlier; it is only known from wing bones. The affiliation of ''G. nailiae'' is not known but it does not seem to be a swan; the size of its remains agrees sufficiently well with those of ''C. kobystanicus'' to indicate that they may be from a single species, to which the older name ''G. nailiae'' would apply.
[Olson (1985: p.197) Mayr (2009: pp.55,58), Mlíkovský (2009)]
Footnotes
References
* (2005): Osteological evidence for sister group relationship between pseudo-toothed birds (Aves: Odontopterygiformes) and waterfowls (Anseriformes). ''
Naturwissenschaften'' 92(12): 586–591.
(HTML abstract
Electronic supplement(requires subscription)
* (2009): ''Paleogene Fossil Birds''. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg & New York.
* (2009): Evolution of the Cenozoic marine avifaunas of Europe. ''Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien A'' 111: 357–37
PDF fulltext* (1985): The Fossil Record of Birds. ''In:'' : ''Avian Biology'' 8: 79-252
PDF fulltext
Fossil taxa described in 1982
Oligocene birds of Asia
Pelagornithidae
Prehistoric bird genera
{{Paleo-bird-stub