Ichthyornis dispar
From Freepedia
| Ichthyornis dispar | ||||||||||||||
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| Ichthyornis dispar Marsh, 1872 |
Ichthyornis is a genus of bird from the Late Cretaceous of North America. It is known primarily from the Cretaceous chalks of Kansas and Texas, which were laid down in the Western Interior Seaway; and it is thought that Ichthyornis may have been the Cretaceous equivalent of modern seabirds such as gulls and petrels.
Although the wings and breastbone are very modern in appearance (suggesting strong flight ability), the jaws retained numerous small, sharp teeth. When the jaws of this bird were thought to belong to a mosasaur (a fish-eating marine lizard), since mosasaurs had similar jaws and teeth to those of Ichthyornis. It was first discovered in 1870; Othniel Charles Marsh's (1880) monograph on the bird remains the most important reference on this animal. Marsh named several species. Although only one, I. victor, is currently recognized, many bird species show little difference in their skeletons, and the Ichthyornis material comes from a wide range of strata, so in all probability more than one species existed. Ichthyornis is close to the ancestry of modern birds, the Neornithes.
References
- Marsh, O. C. (1880). Odontornithes, a Monograph on the Extinct Birds of North America. Government Printing Office, Washington.
