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Hesperornithidae ✝

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Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	Not linked to a GBIF record.
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	174015	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=174015

Rank

family (PBDB)

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Hesperornithiformes : Hesperornithidae

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Sauropsida	Huxley 1864
class	Reptilia	Laurenti 1768
subclass	Eureptilia
-	Romeriida	Gauthier et al. 1988
-	Diapsida
-	Eosuchia
-	Neodiapsida	Benton 1985
-	Sauria	Gauthier 1984
-	Archosauromorpha
-	Crocopoda	Ezcurra 2016
-	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
-	Eucrocopoda	Ezcurra 2016
-	Archosauria
informal	Avemetatarsalia	Benton 1999
-	Ornithodira	Gauthier 1986
-	Dinosauromorpha	Benton 1985
-	Dinosauriformes	Novas 1992
-	Dinosauria
-	Saurischia
-	Theropoda
-	Neotheropoda	Bakker 1986
-	Averostra	Paul 2002
-	Tetanurae	Gauthier 1986
order	Avetheropoda	Paul 1988
suborder	Coelurosauria	Huene 1914
-	Maniraptora	Gauthier 1986
-	Paraves	Sereno 1997
class	Aves	Linnaeus 1758
-	Pygostylia	Chiappe 2002
-	Ornithothoraces	Chiappe and Calvo 1994
-	Ornithuromorpha	Chiappe et al. 1999
subclass	Ornithurae	Haeckel 1866
order	Hesperornithiformes	Fürbringer 1888
family	Hesperornithidae	Marsh 1872

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Palmipedes	stated with evidence	Marsh, 1872
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Dromaeopappi	stated without evidence	Hay, 1902
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Hesperornithiformes	stated with evidence	Wetmore, 1960
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Hesperornithiformes	implied	Carroll, 1988
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Hesperornithiformes	stated with evidence	Kurochkin, 2000
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Hesperornithiformes	stated without evidence	Rees and Lindgren, 2005
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Hesperornithiformes	stated with evidence	Livezey and Zusi, 2007
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Hesperornithiformes	stated without evidence	Wilson et al., 2011
Hesperornithidae	family	belongs to Hesperornithiformes	stated with evidence	Bell and Chiappe, 2016

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

101 - 84 Ma
Late/Upper Cretaceous

Last Recorded Appearance

70.6 - 66.0 Ma
Late/Upper Cretaceous

Environment

marine (based on Hesperornithiformes)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Theropoda)

Diet

carnivore (based on Coelurosauria)

Reproduction

oviparous, dispersal=direct/internal,mobile (based on Theropoda)

Ontogeny

accretion,modification of parts (based on Theropoda)

Taphonomy

hydroxylapatite,compact or dense (based on Theropoda)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

O. C. Marsh. 1872. Preliminary description of Hesperornis regalis, with notices of four other new species of Cretaceous birds. The American Journal of Science and Arts, series 3 3(13-18):360-365

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Asiahesperornithinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)	1	72.1 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	72.1 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Canadaga ✝ genus	listed (PBDB)	2	83.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Hesperornis ✝ genus	listed (PBDB)	60	101 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Parahesperornis ✝ genus	listed (PBDB)	3	89.8 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1872	Hesperornithidae Marsh p. 363
1902	Hesperornithidae Hay p. 521
1960	Hesperornithidae Wetmore p. 23
1976	Hesperornithidae Martin and Tate, Jr. p. 64
1984	Hesperornithidae Martin p. 146
1988	Hesperornithidae Carroll

Year	Name and Author
2000	Hesperornithidae Kurochkin p. 544
2001	Hesperornithidae Elzanowski et al. p. 718
2005	Hesperornithidae Rees and Lindgren p. 1322
2007	Hesperornithidae Livezey and Zusi p. 89
2011	Hesperornithidae Wilson et al. p. 12
2016	Hesperornithidae Bell and Chiappe

References

Marsh O. C. Preliminary description of Hesperornis regalis, with notices of four other new species of Cretaceous birds, The American Journal of Science and Arts, series 3 3 13-18, 360-365

Hay O. P. (1902) , Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179, 1-868

Wetmore A. (1960) A classification for the birds of the world, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 139 11, 1-37

Martin L. D., Tate, Jr. J. (1976) The skeleton of Baptornis advenus (Aves: Hesperornithiformes), Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 27, 35-66

Martin L. D. (1984) A new hesperornithid and the relationships of the Mesozoic birds, Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 87 3/4, 141-150

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Kurochkin E. N. (2000) Mesozoic birds of Mongolia and the former USSR, The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia, 533-559

Elzanowski A., Paul G. S., et al (2001) An avian quadrate from the Late Cretaceous Lance Formation of Wyoming, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20 4, 712-719

Rees J., Lindgren J. (2005) Aquatic birds from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian) of Sweden and the biology and distribution of hesperornithiforms, Palaeontology 48 6, 1321-1329

Livezey B. C., Zusi R. L. (2007) Higher-order phylogeny of modern birds (Theropoda, Aves: Neornithes) based on comparative anatomy. II. Analysis and discussion, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149 1, 1-95

Wilson L. E., Chin K., et al (2011) A high latitude hesperornithiform (Aves) from Devon Island: palaeobiogeography and size distribution of North American hesperornithiforms, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 9 1, 9-23

Bell A., Chiappe L. M. (2016) A species-level phylogeny of the Cretaceous Hesperornithiformes (Aves: Ornithuromorpha): implications for body size evolution amongst the earliest diving birds, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14, 239-251

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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