Lithornithidae
Encyclopedia
Lithornithidae are a family
of palaeognathous
birds from the early Tertiary
of the northern hemisphere.
Lithornis
, Paracathartes
, and Pseudocrypturus
. There are 3 genera
with a possible fourth.
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of palaeognathous
Paleognathae
The Palaeognathae or paleognaths are one of the two living superorders of birds. The other living superorder is Neognathae. Together these two clades form the subclass Neornithes....
birds from the early Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
of the northern hemisphere.
Species
The family was erected by Peter Houde in 1988. It includes the generaGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Lithornis
Lithornis
Lithornis is a genus of extinct paleognathous birds. Lithornis were able to fly well, but are closely related to today's tinamous and ratites ....
, Paracathartes
Paracathartes
Paracathartes is a genus of extinct bird from the Wasachtian horizon of lower Eocene Wyoming, USA. One species, Paracathartes howardae has been described....
, and Pseudocrypturus
Pseudocrypturus
Pseudocrypturus is a genus of extinct paleognathous bird. One species is known, Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius. It is a relative of such modern birds as ostriches. It lived in the early Eocene....
. There are 3 genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
with a possible fourth.
- LithornisLithornisLithornis is a genus of extinct paleognathous birds. Lithornis were able to fly well, but are closely related to today's tinamous and ratites ....
- ParacathartesParacathartesParacathartes is a genus of extinct bird from the Wasachtian horizon of lower Eocene Wyoming, USA. One species, Paracathartes howardae has been described....
- Promusophaga (questionable)
- PseudocrypturusPseudocrypturusPseudocrypturus is a genus of extinct paleognathous bird. One species is known, Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius. It is a relative of such modern birds as ostriches. It lived in the early Eocene....