Eostrix Temporal range: | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Strigiformes |
Family: | † Protostrigidae |
Genus: | † Eostrix Brodkorb, 1971 |
Species | |
E. mimica(Wetmore, 1938) |
Eostrix is a genus of extinct primitive owls in the family Protostrigidae, along with Oligostrix and Minerva. [1] These owls date from the early Eocene of the United States, Europe, and Mongolia. They have been described based on fossil remains. The genus was created by Pierce Brodkorb in 1971 to place a fossil species known until that time as Protostrix mimica.
The following species are recognised:
In 2016, Gerald Mayr described E. gulottai from the early Eocene Nanjemoy Formation in Virginia. [5] However, in 2022, Mayr, alongside Andrew C. Kitchener, moved 'E.' gulottai to the genus Ypresiglaux as the new combination Y. gulottai. [6]
Plotopteridae is an extinct family of flightless seabirds with uncertain placement, generally considered as member of order Suliformes. They exhibited remarkable convergent evolution with the penguins, particularly with the now extinct giant penguins. That they lived in the North Pacific, the other side of the world from the penguins, has led to them being described at times as the Northern Hemisphere's penguins, though they were not closely related. More recent studies have shown, however, that the shoulder-girdle, forelimb and sternum of plotopterids differ significantly from those of penguins, so comparisons in terms of function may not be entirely accurate. Plotopterids are regarded as closely related to Anhingidae (darters) and Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants). On the other hand, there is a theory that this group may have a common ancestor with penguins due to the similarity of forelimb and brain morphology. However, the endocast morphology of stem group Sphenisciformes differs from both Plotopteridae and modern penguins.
Presbyornis is an extinct genus of presbyornithid bird from North America during the Paleogene period, between the Late Paleocene and Early Eocene.
Archaeotrogonidae is a prehistoric bird family known from the Eocene and Oligocene of Europe. They are members of Strisores, and are thought to be closely related to nightjars.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1987.
Odontopteryx is a genus of the extinct pseudotooth birds or pelagornithids. These were probably rather close relatives of either pelicans and storks, or of waterfowl, and are here placed in the order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty.
Lithornis is a genus of extinct paleognathous birds. Although Lithornis was able to fly well, their closest relatives are the extant tinamous and ratites.
Eurofluvioviridavis is a genus of extinct primitive birds from the Middle Eocene Messel Pit, Germany. It contains a single species, Eurofluvioviridavis robustipes. It is related to Avolatavis and Vastanavis, other members of the family Vastanavidae.
Yevgeny Nikolayevich Kurochkin was a Russian paleornithologist at the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He served as President of the Menzbier Ornithological Society.
Eogruidae is a family of large, flightless birds that inhabited Asia from the Eocene to Pliocene epochs. Related to modern ostriches, it was formerly thought to be related to cranes, limpkins and trumpeters and that the similarities with ostriches were due to similar speciations to cursoriality, with both groups showing reduced numbers of toes to two in some taxa. It has been suggested that competition from true ostriches has caused the extinction of these birds, though this has never been formally tested and several ostrich taxa do occur in the late Cenozoic of Asia and some species do occur in areas where ostrich fossils have also been found. It has been suggested that the family is paraphyletic, with Ergilornithidae more closely related to modern ostriches than to Eogrus or Sonogrus.
Messelasturidae is an extinct family of birds known from the Eocene of North America and Europe. Their morphology is a mosaic that in some aspects are very similar to modern hawks and falcons, but in others are more similar to parrots. Initially interpreted as stem-owls, more recent studies have suggested a closer relationship to parrots and passerines. Their ecology is enigmatic.
Minerva is an extinct genus of owls in the prehistoric family Protostrigidae from the Eocene of North America. Described in 1915 by R. W. Shufeldt, some of the bones of Minerva were interpreted as belonging to an edentate mammal by Alexander Wetmore in 1933, who assigned the remaining bones to the new genus Protostrix. Analysis in 1983 re-established the genus Minerva was avian.
Halcyornithidae is an extinct family of telluravian birds thought to be related to the Psittaciformes (parrots), Passeriformes (songbirds), and to the extinct Messelasturidae. Halcyornithids have been found in various Eocene formations in Europe and North America. Widespread and diverse in the Early Eocene of North America and Europe, halcyornithids are not found in locales later than the Middle Eocene. Halcyornithids were small, arboreal birds with zygodactyl feet, with two toes facing forwards and two facing back, a trait shared with other tree-dwelling families of Eocene birds like the Zygodactylidae and the messelasturids. The skull of halcyornithids features a ridge of bone above the eye called the supraorbital process, similar to birds of prey. The relationships of the halcyornithids to other birds remain uncertain. Halcyornithids have been proposed as relatives to owls and as a lineage closer to parrots than to songbirds. Most recently, halcyornithids have been identified as the sister group of the clade including parrots and songbirds. It is also possible that Halcyornithidae is paraphyletic with respect to the Messelasturidae.
Protostrigidae is a prehistoric family of owls which occurred in North America, Europe, and Asia during the Eocene and early Oligocene periods. Genera include Eostrix, Minerva, Oligostrix, and Primoptynx. In 1983, Cécile Mourer-Chauviré demonstrated that Protostrix is a junior synonym of Minerva.
Messelornithidae is an extinct clade of gruiform birds, closely related to modern rails. The fossil record are from the Paleocene to the early Oligocene of Europe and North America.
Morsoravis is an extinct genus of neoavian bird from the Early Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark. It contains a single named species, Morsoravis sedilis. Fossils of Morsoravis have also been found in the Green River Formation of Wyoming and possibly the Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia.
Phocavis is an extinct genus of flightless seabird, belonging to the family Plotopteridae, and distantly related with modern cormorants. Its fossils, found in the Keasey Formation in Oregon, are dated from the Late Eocene.
Ypresiglaux is an extinct genus of strigiform bird from the Early Eocene London Clay Formation of Essex, United Kingdom and Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia, United States. The genus contains two species: Y. michaeldanielsi, known from a partial skeleton, and Y. gulottai, known from a distal tarsometatarsus.
Olympidytes is an extinct genus of Plotopteridae, a family of large, flightless marine bird superficially similar to modern penguins but more closely related to cormorants and gannets. It lived during the Late Eocene or the Early Oligocene, in what is today the State of Washington and Japan.
Pulchrapollia is an extinct genus of halcyornithid bird from the Early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze, United Kingdom and the Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia, United States. The genus contains three species, Pulchrapollia gracilis, Pulchrapollia tenuipes and Pulchrapollia eximia.
Eofringillirostrum is an extinct species of bird known from the Early Eocene Green River Formation of the Western United States and from the Messel Pit in Germany. The genus contains two species, Eofringillirostrum boudreauxi and Eofringillirostrum parvulum. They are the earliest known fossil birds to have a finch-like beak.