Ichthyornis

Ichthyornis
	Ichthyornis - drawing by Othniel Charles Marsh
Temporal occurrence
	Cenomanium (Upper Cretaceous) to Campanium
	99.6 to 70.6 million years
Locations
	Middle North America ;
Systematics
	Birds (aves)
	Ornithothoraces
	Ornithurae
	Carinatae
	Ichthyornithidae
	Ichthyornis
Scientific name of the family
	Ichthyornithidae
	Marsh, 1873
Scientific name of the genus
	Ichthyornis
	Marsh , 1872

Ichthyornis (from ancient Greek ἰχθύς fish and ὄρνις bird) is an extinct genus of seabirds from the Upper Cretaceous North America.

The fossil remains were found in Turonian and Middle Campanian deposits in Alberta , Saskatchewan , Alabama , Kansas , New Mexico , and Texas . Other fossils from Argentina and Central Asia are sometimes also assigned to this taxon .

Ichthyornis lived on the shallow sea, the Western Interior Seaway , which crossed North America from north to south in the Cretaceous. It is believed that Ichthyornis had a way of life similar to that of today's seagulls and petrels . Ichthyornis unites both primitive and modern birds. For example, its jaws were covered with numerous small teeth, but the sternum and wings were modern, which is why it is assumed that it was able to fly well.

Ichthyornis was discovered in 1870. Othniel Charles Marsh's 1880 monograph on Odontornithes is the most important work on this bird to this day. Of the various scientifically described species, only one, Ichthyornis dispar , is recognized after a revision from 2004 .

literature

Julia A. Clarke (2004): Morphology, Phylogenetic Taxonomy, and Systematics of Ichthyornis and Apatornis (Avialae: Ornithurae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 286 : 1-179 PDF
Joseph T. Gregory (1952): The Jaws of the Cretaceous Toothed Birds, Ichthyornis and Hesperornis. Condor 54 (2): 73-88. PDF

Web links

Commons : Ichthyornis - collection of images, videos and audio files

OCEANS OF KANSAS PALEONTOLOGY Ichthyornis