Plesiocathartes

Plesiocathartes is an extinct genus of birds that lived during the Eocene to Oligocene period. It currently presents 5 species from Europe and North America. It was originally described related to New World vultures, but recent studies have uncovered that the genus was more closely related to the cuckoo-roller from Madagascar.

Plesiocathartes

via iDigBio · CC0 · 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
LeptosomiformesPBDB
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 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 27.3 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 4 occurrencesEocene — about 3 of 4 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 4 occurrencesOligocene57–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48.07 Mya37.71 Mya56.6 Mya26.7 Mya

4 occurrences of Plesiocathartes 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

4 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

3 formations

Tielt — 51.01°N, 3.23°EMessel — 49.93°N, 8.75°ELondon Clay — 51.87°N, 1.29°E

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The named rock units Plesiocathartes 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.

Plesiocathartes and its relatives

Eocene

Where Plesiocathartes and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

150 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Plesiocathartes, 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

4 references

Each of the 4 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 content1

Picture of Plesiocathartes

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Plesiocathartes 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 itLeptosomiformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gaillard 1908