Telmatornis

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Telmatornis Fossil range: Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Subclass: Neornithes Infraclass: Neoaves Order: Charadriiformes Genus: Telmatornis Species: T. priscus
Binomial name
Telmatornis priscus Marsh, 1870
Synonyms
Telmatornis affinis Marsh, 1870 Graculavus pumilis Marsh, 1872 ?Palaeotringa vetus Marsh, 1870

Telmatornis is a prehistoric bird genus of unclear affiliations. It apparently lived in the Late Cretaceous; its remains were found in the early Maastrichtian (c.71-68 million years ago) Navesink Formation of New Jersey. A single species is included today, Telmatornis priscus. It was for some time united with other taxa of aquatic birds from around the Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary in the form taxon "Graculavidae", the supposed "transitional shorebirds", but this group is now known to be artificial.

Some sources erroneously claim it was allied with ducks and geese. The reason for this is that the early anseriform Anatalavis rex was for some time included in Telmatornis. A cladistic analysis of T. priscus^[1] supports the view that this Mesozoic bird was a member of the Charadriiformes, the ancient and diverse group of modern birds that includes for example gulls, auks and waders.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Mortimer, Michael (2004): The Theropod Database: Phylogeny of taxa. Retrieved 2007-OCT-29.