Alca torda

The razorbill is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus Alca of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk. Historically, it has also been known as "auk", "razor-billed auk" and "lesser auk".

Alca torda

neekoh.fi · CC BY 2.0 · 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
razorbillPBDB
Sits inside
AlcaPBDB
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 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 3 of 16 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 16 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 8 of 16 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 4 of 16 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences7.246 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

16 occurrences of Alca torda on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

16 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

6 formations

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WEastover — 38.17°N, 76.87°WSaint Marys — 38.17°N, 76.44°WSt Marys — 38.32°N, 76.42°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.27°EForest Bed — 52.85°N, 1.47°E

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The named rock units Alca torda has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Alca torda and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Alca torda and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

588 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Alca torda, 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

10 references

Each of the 16 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. 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 torda

Credit
neekoh.fi
Licence
CC BY 2.0
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

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itAlca through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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