A SKULL OF THE GIANT BONY‐TOOTHED BIRDDASORNIS(AVES: PELAGORNITHIDAE) FROM THE LOWER EOCENE OF THE ISLE OF SHEPPEY

2008/09/01 by Gérald Mayr · 9 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Ichthyology and Marine Biology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00798.x

openalex publication_date 2008/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Abstract: The first substantial skull of a very large Paleogene bony‐toothed bird (Pelagornithidae) is described from the Lower Eocene London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey in England. The specimen is assigned to Dasornis emuinus (Bowerbank), based on a taxonomic revision of the large London Clay Pelagornithidae. Very large bony‐toothed birds from the London Clay were known previously from fragmentary remains of non‐comparable skeletal elements only, and Dasornis londinensis Owen, Argillornis emuinus (Bowerbank), A. longipennis Owen, and Neptuniavis miranda Harrison and Walker are considered junior synonyms of D. emuinus . The new specimen allows a definitive assignment of Dasornis to the Pelagornithidae and documents that this taxon closely resembles other bony‐toothed birds in cranial morphology. It is hypothesized that giant size (i.e. a wingspan above 4 m) evolved only once within Pelagornithidae and that Dasornis emuinus is the sister taxon of the giant Neogene bony‐toothed birds, which share a derived wing morphology.

Cited by

• Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary
• Review of the putative Phorusrhacidae from the Cretaceous and Paleogene of Antarctica: new records of ratites and pelagornithid birds
• Phylogenetic Analysis of Pelecaniformes (Aves) Based on Osteological Data: Implications for Waterbird Phylogeny and Fossil Calibration Studies
• A functional odontoid in the dentary of the Early Cretaceous pterosaur Istiodactylus latidens: Implications for feeding
• Dasornis [wikipedia]
• Elopteryx [wikipedia]
• Macrodontopteryx [wikipedia]
• Odontopteryx [wikipedia]
• Osteodontornis [wikipedia]

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