Prophaethon

Prophaethon is an extinct genus of seabird that lived during the Early Eocene. As indicated by its generic name, it is a distant relative of the tropicbirds.

Prophaethon

via GBIF · CC0 · via GBIF. 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
ProphaethontidaePBDB
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 12 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 59.24 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 1 of 4 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 3 of 4 occurrencesEocene59–59 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences59–59 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences59.7 Mya47.6 Mya

4 occurrences of Prophaethon 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

London Clay — 51.85°N, 1.28°ELondon Clay — 51.39°N, 0.84°EAquia — 38.89°N, 76.85°WTielt — 51.01°N, 3.23°E

Loading coastlines…

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

Prophaethon and its relatives

Eocene

Where Prophaethon and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

144 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Prophaethon, 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 content2

Picture of Prophaethon

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

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Prophaethon shrubsolei · nhmuk:a:683

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itProphaethontidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Andrews 1899