''Prophaethon'' is an
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 ...
genus of
seabird that lived during the Early
Eocene (
Ypresian, c.56-49
mya
Mya may refer to:
Brands and product names
* Mya (program), an intelligent personal assistant created by Motorola
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* Midwest Young Artists, a comprehensive youth music program
Codes
* Burmese ...
). It is essentially known from fairly comprehensive remains of a single individual, namely skull and some limb bones, which were recovered from the
London Clay on the
Isle of Sheppey,
England. Some more indeterminable remains from the
Late Paleocene of
Maryland, US might also belong here. Thus, the genus contains only a single species, ''Prophaethon shrubsolei''. As indicated by its name, it is a distant relative of the
tropicbirds.
References
Eocene birds
Bird genera
Prophaethontidae
Extinct birds of Europe
{{Pelecaniformes-stub