Alca

Alca is a genus of charadriiform bird that contains a single extant species, the razorbill (Alca torda). Many fossil species are known, the oldest dating back to the Miocene. The genus appears to have always been restricted to the North Atlantic.

Alca

MPF · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
aukPBDB
Sits inside
AlcidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Charadriiformes

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 6 of 28 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 28 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 8 of 28 occurrencesPleistocene16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.9–9.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.3–8.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.2–7.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.7–7.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.1–6.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.6–6.0 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.0–5.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.5–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.4–3.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.3–2.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.7–2.2 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.2–1.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.6–1.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.1–549 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences549 ka–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka16.5 Mya0 Mya

28 occurrences of Alca on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

28 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WKattendijk — 51.26°N, 4.27°EEastover — 38.17°N, 76.87°WEastover — 38.16°N, 76.83°WSaint Marys — 38.17°N, 76.44°WSt Marys — 38.32°N, 76.42°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.71°WPuerto de Mazarron — 37.58°N, 1.25°WPeace River — 27.74°N, 81.93°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.27°EForest Bed — 52.85°N, 1.47°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Alca has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Alca and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Alca and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

690 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Alca, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

17 references

Each of the 28 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 5 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Alca

Credit
MPF
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Alca torda · l-jz:JZ:32

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAlcidae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758