Passeriformes

A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes, which facilitates perching.

Passeriformes

MathKnight · 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
Also called
perching birdPBDB
Sits inside
NeognathaePBDB
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 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 45.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 51.1 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 3 of 2352 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 6 of 2352 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 50 of 2352 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 19 of 2352 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1570 of 2352 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 1 occurrence35–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–30 Mya — about 1 occurrence30–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–26 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 4 occurrences10–8.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.7–7.0 Mya — about 7 occurrences7.0–5.2 Mya — about 21 occurrences5.2–3.5 Mya — about 11 occurrences3.5–1.7 Mya — about 75 occurrences1.7–0 Mya — about 2206 occurrences45.9 Mya11.7 ka52 Mya0 Mya

2,352 occurrences of Passeriformes on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

2,352 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

44 formations

facies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EHillgrove — 45.13°S, 170.97°EWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WBannockburn — 44.91°S, 169.86°EBannockburn — 44.89°S, 169.84°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ETamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°EPampean — 38.20°S, 59.12°WGnilyane — 42.80°N, 23.06°EMiramar — 38.27°S, 57.85°WMiramar — 37.98°S, 57.59°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WKattendijk — 51.26°N, 4.27°ESajovolgyi — 47.97°N, 19.69°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EVerde — 34.77°N, 111.85°WNamba — 31.17°S, 140.23°EFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WPawnee Creek — 40.90°N, 103.48°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Passeriformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 2,252 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Passeriformes and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Passeriformes and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

3,742 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 497 sites for Passeriformes, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

282 references

Each of the 2,352 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. 270 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 content3

Picture of Passeriformes

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

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Passeriformes indet. · nmnz:S.44264

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itNeognathae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)