Dasornis
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Dasornis Temporal range: Early Eocene (but see text) 51–50 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Subclass: | Neornithes |
| Infraclass: | Neognathae |
| Order: | †Odontopterygiformes |
| Family: | †Pelagornithidae |
| Genus: |
†Dasornis Owen, 1870 |
| Species: | †D. emuinus |
| Binomial name | |
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Dasornis emuinus (Bowerbank, 1854) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Numerous, see text |
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Numerous, see text
Dasornis is a genus of the prehistoric pseudotooth birds. 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.
Almost all known material of this bird is from some 50 million years ago (Ma) and has been recovered from the Ypresian (Early Eocene) London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey (England). The exception are a few approximately 45 Ma-old remains from the Lutetian (Middle Eocene, MP11-13) of Etterbeek (Belgium) that are only tentatively included here, and some even more conjectural remains from outside Europe (see below).
Like those of its relatives, the thin-walled bones of Dasornis broke easily and thus very few fossils – though still far more than of the average pseudotooth bird genus – are in decent condition. Among these is a superbly preserved partial skull that has been of crucial importance in sorting out the convoluted synonymy of this genus. Apart from that and another not quite as well-preserved partial skull, however, a number of beak and cranium pieces as well as a few broken remains of wing and tarsometatarsus bones make up the known remains of Dasornis. The most tell-tale characteristic of the present genus are the combination of Paleogene age and huge size. But given the fragmented state of these, it is not at all clear whether the genus was restricted to the North Atlantic (and perhaps the adjacent Paratethys) or occurred also in the Pacific and in the Southern Hemisphere, where fossils of a similar size were found (see below).
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