Eocene birds

family of birds

Gastornis is an extinct genus of large, flightless birds that lived during the mid-Paleocene to mid-Eocene epochs of the Paleogene period. Most fossils have been found in Europe, and some species typically referred to the genus are known from North America and Asia. Several genera, including the well-studied genus Diatryma, have historically been considered junior synonyms of Gastornis. However, this interpretation has been challenged recently, and some researchers currently consider Diatryma to be a valid genus.

thumb|thumbtime=82|Turkey vultures coming in to the same roost they use for the season.

Anthropornis is a genus of giant penguin that lived 45-33 million years ago, during the Late Eocene and the earliest part of the Oligocene.

Presbyornis is an extinct genus of presbyornithid bird from North America during the Paleogene period, between the Late Paleocene and Early Eocene.

Pachydyptes (Pachydyptes ponderosus), also known as the New Zealand giant penguin is an extinct genus of penguin. This taxon is known from a few bones from Late Eocene (37 to 34 MYA) rocks in the area of Otago, which were found in two clades near a base of a tree (Ksepka et al., 2006).

species of bird (fossil)

Palaeeudyptes is an extinct genus of large penguins, currently containing four accepted species. They were probably larger than almost all living penguins, with the smaller species being about the size of an emperor penguin, and the largest species, Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, estimated to reach long (measuring tip of beak to tail) and weighed up to .

Eleutherornis cotei is an extinct flightless predatory cariamiform bird which lived during the Middle Eocene of France and Switzerland. Since the early 20th century, researchers have initially described the fossils of Eleutherornis as separate taxa, some remains as a species of Gastornis and others as an ancient ratite related to modern ostriches. However, subsequent analyses have questioned the original interpretations, and a thorough reexamination in 2013 indicated that all of these described remains represent the same species.

Bathornithidae is an extinct family of birds from the Eocene to Miocene of North America. Part of Cariamiformes, they are related to the still extant seriemas and the extinct Phorusrhacidae. They were likely similar in habits, being terrestrial, long-legged predators, some of which attained massive sizes.

Archaeospheniscus is an extinct genus of large penguins. It currently contains three species, known from somewhat fragmentary remains. A. wimani, the smallest species (about the size of a gentoo penguin), was found in Middle or Late Eocene strata (34-50 MYA) of the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica, whereas the other two, about the size of a modern emperor penguin, are known from bones recovered from the Late Oligocene Kokoamu Greensand Formation (27-28 MYA) at Duntroon, New Zealand.

Bathornis ("tall bird") is an extinct genus of birds related to modern day seriemas, that lived in North America about 37–20 million years ago. Like the closely related and also extinct phorusrhacids, it was a flightless predator, occupying predatory niches in environments classically considered to be dominated by mammals. It was a highly diverse and successful genus, spanning a large number of species that occurred from the Priabonian Eocene to the Burdigalian Miocene epochs.

The extinct Messelirrisor is a genus of Bucerotiformes, the sole representative of the family Messelirrisoridae. They were tiny hoopoe-like birds that were the earliest representatives of the hoopoe/wood-hoopoe lineage, and they were among the predominant small forest birds of Central Europe during the Middle Eocene (some 49-37 mya). Fossilized remains of Messelirrisor have been found in the Messel Pit of Hesse, Germany. thumbnail|left|Life restoration

Lavocatavis is an extinct genus of prehistoric bird from the Eocene of Algeria. A fossilized femur was described from the Glib Zegdou Formation in 2011 and is the only known specimen of Lavocatavis. The species was designated L. africana.

Masillaraptor is an extinct genus of masillaraptorid falconiforms. It is a long-legged relative of the living falcons. The genus contains two species: M. parvunguis, named in 2006 from the Messel pit (Middle Eocene) of Germany, and M. buchheimi, named in 2025 from the Green River Formation (Early Eocene) of Wyoming, United States.

species of bird (fossil)

species of bird (fossil)

Aegialornis is a genus of prehistoric apodiform birds. It formed a distinct family, the Aegialornithidae, and was in some ways intermediate between modern swifts and owlet-nightjars, lacking the more extreme adaptations to an aerial lifestyle that swifts show today, but already having sickle-shaped wings like them. They do not appear to be a direct ancestor of modern swifts, however, but rather a group that retained an overall basal morphology. Altogether, they were not too dissimilar from modern treeswifts.

Gallinuloides is a prehistoric genus of pangalliform bird. It lived about 48 million years ago in North America. The type specimen was found in a Green River Formation deposit in Wyoming.

Eremopezus is a prehistoric bird genus of uncertain affinities. It is known only from the fossil remains of a single species, the huge and presumably flightless Eremopezus eocaenus. This was found in Upper Eocene Jebel Qatrani Formation deposits around the Qasr el Sagha escarpment, north of the Birket Qarun lake near Faiyum in Egypt. The rocks its fossils occur in were deposited in the Priabonian, with the oldest dating back to about 36 million years ago (Ma) and the youngest not less than about 33 Ma.

species of bird (fossil)

species of bird (fossil)

Primobucco is an extinct genus of bird placed in its own family, Primobucconidae. The type species, Primobucco mcgrewi, lived during the Lower Eocene of North America. It was initially described by American paleo-ornithologist Pierce Brodkorb in 1970, from a fossil right wing, and thought to be an early puffbird. However, the discovery of a further 12 fossils in 2010 indicate that it is instead an early type of roller.

Protopelicanus cuvierii is a putative fossil waterbird of uncertain affinities. It was briefly described and figured by Georges Cuvier in 1822 from Late Eocene material from Montmartre, France, though not formally described and named until 1852 by German botanist and ornithologist Ludwig Reichenbach as an early pelecanid. The original material comprised the cranial part of a left scapula and a nearly complete left femur. The lectotype femur was thought by Michel Brunet in 1970 to be typical of a pelican. However, Colin Harrison in 1979 considered that it belonged to the Sulidae, and Storrs Ols