Laornis
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| iLaornis |
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Laornis edvardsianus Marsh, 1870 |
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Laopteryx Kurochkin, 1995 (lapsus) |
Laornis[1] is a genus of a prehistoric neornithine birds, known only from a single tibiotarsus leg bone[2] discovered in 1870[verification needed], of the single species L. edvardsianus. It was found in Late Cretaceous or Early Palaeocene (Wetmore, 1930; Baird, 1967) sediments of the Hornerstown Formation (c.66-63 mya) at the Birmingham Marl Pits, Pemberton, New Jersey, USA (39°59'N, 74°43'W).
The bone is not very diagnostic, but its general shape suggests that Laornis was a wading, semi-aquatic bird with longish legs and a body the size of a large goose; it stood probably around one meter (3-4 ft) tall in life depending on how long its legs and neck were exactly, which of course cannot be told from the one known bone.
It has variously been allied with the Charadriiformes and the Gruiformes, and is tentatively placed in a family of its own (Laornithidae) which most likely - but far from certainly - was some kind of basal gruiform, or more probably part of an ancestral lineage related to the common ancestor of gruiform, charadriiform, and/or other modern "wading" bird families.
[edit] See also
- Graculavidae
[edit] References
- Baird, Donald (1967): Age of fossil birds from the greensands of New Jersey. Auk 84(2): 260-262. PDF fulltext
- Cracraft, Joel (1973): Systematics and evolution of the Gruiformes (class Aves). 3, Phylogeny of the suborder Grues. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 151: 1-127. PDF fulltext
- Marsh, Othniel Charles (1870): Notice of some fossil birds from Cretaceous and Tertiary formations of the United States. American Journal of Science, Series 2 49[verification needed]: 205-217.
- Wetmore, Alexander (1930): The age of the supposed Cretaceous birds from New Jersey. Auk 47(2): 186-188. PDF fulltext
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Etymology: Laornis, "stone bird" or "fossil bird", from Ancient Greek lao "stone" + ornis "bird".
- ^ YPM 820. See Cracraft, 1973:47, for photographs
[edit] External links
- Satellite image of the type locality from Google Maps
- Topographic map of the type locality from TopoZone
- Aerial image of the type locality from TerraServer-USA
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