Masillaraptoridae

Masillaraptoridae is an extinct family of stem-group falconiform birds from the Eocene of Europe and the United States. They are noted for their relatively long legs. Two genera have been named: Danielsraptor, from the London Clay of England, and Masillaraptor, from Messel Pit in Germany and Green River Formation of Wyoming, US.

Masillaraptoridae

El fosilmaníaco · 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
FalconiformesPBDB
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 most 8 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 56 Mya and 48.07 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Paleocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 2 occurrencesEocene56–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56.5 Mya47.6 Mya

2 occurrences of Masillaraptoridae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

2 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

2 formations

Tielt — 51.01°N, 3.23°ELondon Clay — 51.85°N, 1.28°E

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

Masillaraptoridae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Masillaraptoridae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

29 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Masillaraptoridae, 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

2 references

Each of the 2 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Masillaraptoridae

Credit
El fosilmaníaco
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Masillaraptoridae was found in Sketchfab.

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 itFalconiformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Mayr 2009