Gastornis

Gastornis is an extinct genus of large, flightless birds that lived during the mid-Paleocene to mid-Eocene epochs of the Paleogene period. Most fossils have been found in Europe, and some species typically referred to the genus are known from North America and Asia. Several genera, including the well-studied genus Diatryma, have historically been considered junior synonyms of Gastornis. However, this interpretation has been challenged recently, and some researchers currently consider Diatryma to be a valid genus.

Gastornis

Vince Smith from London, United Kingdom · CC BY-SA 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
Sits inside
GastornithidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Galloanserae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Galloanserae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 3.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 59.24 Mya to 56 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 61.66 Mya to 48.07 Mya.

Paleocene — about 8 of 13 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 5 of 13 occurrencesEocene62–61 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences61–61 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences60–60 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences59–59 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences58–58 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences59.24 Mya56 Mya62.2 Mya47.6 Mya

13 occurrences of Gastornis on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

13 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

Sables de Bracheux — 49.27°N, 4.15°EConglomérat de Cernay — 49.27°N, 4.10°EVaugirard — 48.81°N, 2.24°EMargaret — 78.67°N, 81.90°WHeers — 50.71°N, 5.00°EWoolwich — 51.37°N, 0.09°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Gastornis 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.

Gastornis and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Gastornis and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

212 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Gastornis, 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

9 references

Each of the 13 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 content2

Picture of Gastornis

Credit
Vince Smith from London, United Kingdom
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itGastornithidae through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hébert 1855