Cariamidae

The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae, which is also the only surviving lineage of the order Cariamiformes. Once believed to be related to cranes, they have been placed near the falcons, parrots, and passerines, as well as the extinct Phorusrhacidae. The seriemas are large, long-legged territorial birds that range from 70–90 cm (28–35 in) in length. They live in grasslands, savanna, dry woodland and open forests of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. There are two species of seriemas, the red-legged seriema and the black-legged seriema. Names for these birds in the Tupian languages are variously spelled as siriema, sariama, and çariama, and mean "crested".

Cariamidae

Otávio Nogueira · 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
seriemaPBDB
Sits inside
CariamiformesPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 43 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 3.8 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 15 occurrencesEocene — about 6 of 15 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 15 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 4 of 15 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 15 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–37 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.4–4.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.6–2.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences48.07 Mya5 Mya57 Mya3 Mya

15 occurrences of Cariamidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

15 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

7 formations

Santa Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.10°WMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WMessel — 49.93°N, 8.73°ELondon Clay — 51.39°N, 0.84°EQuercy Phosphorites — 44.27°N, 1.63°ESanta Cruz — 50.63°S, 72.47°W

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The named rock units Cariamidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cariamidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Cariamidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

513 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Cariamidae, 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

11 references

Each of the 15 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 content1

Picture of Cariamidae

Credit
Otávio Nogueira
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cariamidae was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itCariamiformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1853