Ichthyornithes

Ichthyornithes is an extinct group of toothed avialan dinosaurs very closely related to the common ancestor of all modern birds. They are known from fossil remains found throughout the late Cretaceous period of North America, though only two genera, Ichthyornis and Janavis, are represented by complete enough fossils to have been named. Ichthyornitheans became extinct at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, along with enantiornitheans, all other non-avian dinosaurs, and many other animal and plant groups.

Ichthyornithes

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
OrnithuraePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 36 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 36 of 36 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 36 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 6 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 5 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 2 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 2 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 2 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 2 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 2 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 2 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 2 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 2 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 2 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences93.9 Mya72.2 Mya101.2 Mya65.3 Mya

36 occurrences of Ichthyornithes 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

36 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

14 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°WPierre Shale — 49.14°N, 98.22°WAshville — 53.48°N, 102.24°WMaastricht — 50.80°N, 5.67°EMancos Shale — 35.88°N, 106.91°WChico — 39.62°N, 121.53°WBissekty — 42.12°N, 62.66°EGreenhorn Limestone — 39.00°N, 98.92°WKaskapau — 55.71°N, 117.60°W

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The named rock units Ichthyornithes 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.

Ichthyornithes and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

191 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Ichthyornithes, 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

15 references

Each of the 36 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. 3 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 Ichthyornithes

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

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itOrnithurae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Marsh 1873)