Enaliornis
Extinct genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Enaliornis is a genus of hesperornithine which lived during the late Albian to the early Cenomanian, making them the oldest known hesperornithines.[2] Fossils have been found near Cambridge, England. Due to its lack of certain[clarification needed] hesperornithid apomorphies, they were much more "conventional" birds and were initially held to be Gaviiformes (loons/divers).[3]
| Enaliornis Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avialae |
| Clade: | †Hesperornithes |
| Family: | †Enaliornithidae |
| Genus: | †Enaliornis Seeley, 1876 |
| Type species | |
| †Enaliornis barretti Seeley, 1876[1] | |
| Species | |
| |
Description
Classification
Enaliornis was originally named Pelagornis ("sea bird") by Seeley in 1866, but that name was preoccupied by a Miocene bird related to the pelicans. Three species have been described: the small Enaliornis sedgwicki, the medium-sized Enaliornis seeleyi, and the large Enaliornis barretti.
The size of the largest of the three species was comparable to a large pigeon.[4] Together, they are the only birds currently assigned to the family Enaliornithidae. The presumed hesperornithine Potamornis from the Late Cretaceous Lance Formation of Buck Creek (United States) may also be related to this group.
Relationships
In 2015, a species-level phylogenetic analysis found the following relationships among hesperornitheans.[6]
