Leptoptilos falconeri

Leptoptilos falconeri is an extinct species of large-bodied stork that lived during Pliocene to Pleistocene of Sivalik Hills of India, with also being known from Africa, specifically Chad and Ethiopia, though it might have also inhabited Ukraine. Although not the oldest fossil species of the genus Leptoptilos it was the first fossil species of the genus to be described. Furthermore, it was the largest known species of stork ever and amongst the tallest and heaviest flying birds known to have existed, having reached at least 2 m in height.

Leptoptilos falconeri

via iDigBio · CC BY · via iDigBio. 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
LeptoptilosPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Leptoptilos
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Leptoptilos
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Leptoptilos

Time the record covers

At most 6.6 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 13.82 Mya and 7.246 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 1 of 1 occurrenceMiocene14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.8–9.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.5–9.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.3–9.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.0–8.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.8–8.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.5–8.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.3–8.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.0–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.5–7.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.3–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14.3 Mya6.7 Mya

1 occurrence of Leptoptilos falconeri on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

1 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

1 formation

Beglia — 34.00°N, 8.00°E

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The named rock units Leptoptilos falconeri has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Leptoptilos falconeri and its relatives

Miocene

Where Leptoptilos falconeri and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

22 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Leptoptilos falconeri, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Leptoptilos falconeri

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC BY
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 itLeptoptilos through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Milne Edwards 1868)