Ichthyornis

Ichthyornis is an extinct genus of toothy seabird-like ornithuran from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Its fossil remains are mostly known from the chalks of Alberta, Alabama, Kansas, New Mexico, Saskatchewan, and Texas, in strata that were laid down in the Western Interior Seaway, spanning from the Cenomanian to the Campanian ages of the Late Cretaceous. Ichthyornis is a common component of the Niobrara Formation fauna, and numerous specimens have been found.

Ichthyornis

MCDinosaurhunter · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
IchthyornithesPBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB
Life habit
volantPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Ichthyornithes

Time the record covers

At least 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 83.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 72.2 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 33 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 33 of 33 occurrencesLate Cretaceous101–100 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences98–97 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences97–96 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences91–90 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 2 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 5 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 4 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 1 occurrence82–81 Mya — about 1 occurrence81–80 Mya — about 1 occurrence80–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–78 Mya — about 1 occurrence78–77 Mya — about 1 occurrence77–76 Mya — about 1 occurrence76–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–74 Mya — about 1 occurrence74–73 Mya — about 1 occurrence73–72 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences93.9 Mya83.6 Mya101.1 Mya71.6 Mya

33 occurrences of Ichthyornis on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

33 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

11 formations

Niobrara — 39.00°N, 101.00°WNiobrara — 39.57°N, 99.30°WNiobrara — 38.77°N, 100.77°WNiobrara — 38.85°N, 100.17°WNiobrara — 38.92°N, 101.18°WNiobrara — 38.60°N, 96.05°WNiobrara — 38.47°N, 100.47°WMooreville Chalk — 32.76°N, 88.02°WMooreville Chalk — 32.92°N, 88.07°WMooreville Chalk — 32.42°N, 87.20°WMooreville Chalk — 32.40°N, 87.14°WMooreville Chalk — 32.97°N, 88.04°WMooreville Chalk — 33.25°N, 88.16°WMooreville Chalk — 32.82°N, 88.05°WBelle Fourche — 53.21°N, 103.52°WEctor Chalk — 33.54°N, 96.36°WPflugerville — 30.27°N, 97.74°WGober Chalk — 33.47°N, 96.09°WAshville — 53.48°N, 102.24°WMancos Shale — 35.88°N, 106.91°WChico — 39.62°N, 121.53°WBissekty — 42.12°N, 62.66°EKaskapau — 55.71°N, 117.60°W

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The named rock units Ichthyornis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ichthyornis and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Ichthyornis and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

175 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 31 sites for Ichthyornis, 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

12 references

Each of the 33 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 Ichthyornis

Credit
MCDinosaurhunter
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ichthyornis dispar · nhmuk:pal:PV A 905

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 itIchthyornithes through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1872