Gaviidae

Loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus Gavia, family Gaviidae, and order Gaviiformes.

Gaviidae

All authors above. Collage made by Michal Klajban · 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
Sits inside
GaviiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 41 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 129 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 129 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 14 of 129 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 14 of 129 occurrencesPleistocene — about 40 of 129 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–9.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.9–3.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 91 occurrences41.03 Mya11.7 ka49 Mya0 Mya

129 occurrences of Gaviidae on record. 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

129 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

18 formations

San Diego — 32.74°N, 117.17°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.05°WSan Diego — 32.73°N, 117.14°WSan Diego — 32.63°N, 117.02°WSan Diego — 32.76°N, 117.14°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPeace River — 27.74°N, 81.93°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.62°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WLiuchungchi — 23.44°N, 120.59°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WSan Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WPismo — 35.17°N, 120.73°WMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°WBuchak — 49.53°N, 39.07°EEtchegoin — 36.20°N, 121.08°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WEnspel — 50.61°N, 7.89°EBorgloon — 50.85°N, 4.82°EManix — 34.80°N, 117.00°WIchijiku — 35.27°N, 140.00°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Gaviidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 82 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

2,537 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 97 sites for Gaviidae, 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

59 references

Each of the 129 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. 47 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 content1

Picture of Gaviidae

Credit
All authors above. Collage made by Michal Klajban
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Gaviidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itGaviiformes through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Allen 1897