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Early Late Cretaceous birds from Saskatchewan, Canada: the oldest diverse avifauna known from North America

1997; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02724634.1997.10010961

1937-2809

Tim T. Tokaryk, Stephen L. Cumbaa, John E. Storer,

Evolution and Paleontology Studies

ABSTRACT Five taxa of fossil birds comprising at least 17 individuals have been discovered in a Cenomanian (early Late Cretaceous) nearshore marine deposit along the Carrot River, near the Pasquia Hills of Saskatchewan, Canada. More than a hundred fossils, all from a single locality, constitute the oldest and most diverse avifauna from the Cretaceous of North America. Four species represent the earliest known North American Ornithurae, two of them new species of the baptornithid Pasquiaornis, n. gen. (Hesperornithiformes), and the other two referred to the ichthyornithid Ichthyornis (Ichthyornithiformes). Pasquiaornis is more primitive than Baptornis, and its humérus and femur show resemblances to those of flying birds. A presumed enantiornithine is also present.