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Information about Plotopteridae

Plotopterids
Fossil range: Eocene - Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Pelecaniformes
Family:Plotopteridae
Howard, 1969
Genera


Plotopterum
Copepteryx
Tonsala
Phocavis


Plotopteridae is the name of an extinct family of flightless seabirds from the order Pelecaniformes. Related to the gannets and boobies, they exhibited remarkable convergent evolution with the penguins, particularly with the now extinct giant penguins. That they lived in the North Pacific, the other side of the world from the penguins, has led to them being described at times as the Northern Hemisphere's penguins, although one new theory suggests that this group is a link between the penguins and the Pelecaniformes. Their fossils have been found in California, Washington and Japan. They ranged in size from that of a large cormorant (such as a Brandt's Cormorant), to being 2 m long. They had shortened wings designed for underwater wing-propelled pursuit diving (like penguins or the now extinct Great Auk), a body skeleton similar to that of the darter and the skull similar to that of a sulid.

The earliest known Plotopteridae species, Phocavis maritimus lived in the mid-Eocene, but most of the known species lived in the early and mid-Miocene, after which it appears they went extinct. That they went extinct at the same time as the giant penguins of the Southern Hemisphere, which also coincided with the radiation of the seals and dolphins, has led to speculation that the expansion of marine mammals was responsible for the extinction of the Plotopteridae.

References

  • Howard, H. (1969): A new avian fossil from Kern County, California. Condor 71: 68–69. PDF fulltext
  • Olson, Storrs L.; Hasegawa, Yoshikazu (1979): Fossil Counterparts of Giant Penguins from the North Pacific. Science 206(4419): 688-689. HTML abstract
  • Olson, Storrs L. & Hasegawa, Yoshikazu (1996): A new genus and two new species of gigantic Plotopteridae from Japan (Aves: Pelecaniformes). J. Vert. Paleontol. 16(4): 742-751.
  • Schreiber, E.A. & Burger, J. (2001): Biology of Marine Birds, ISBN 0-8493-9882-7
  • Mayr, Gerald (2005): Tertiary plotopterids (Aves, Plotopteridae) and a novel hypothesis on the phylogenetic relationships of penguins (Spheniscidae). Journal of Zoological Systematics 43(1): 67-71. PDF fulltext
The Eocene epoch (55.8 ± 0.2 - 33.9 ± 0.1 Ma) is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Palaeogene period in the Cenozoic era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene epoch.
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The Miocene Epoch is a period of time that extends from about 23.03 to 5.332 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are uncertain.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Pelecaniformes
Sharpe, 1891

Families
  • Fregatidae
  • Pelecanidae
  • Sulidae
  • Phalacrocoracidae
  • Anhingidae
  • Phaethontidae
For prehistoric families, see article text.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1966 1967 1968 - 1969 - 1970 1971 1972

Also:
*:1969 (number)
*:

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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
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family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar
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Pelecaniformes
Sharpe, 1891

Families
  • Fregatidae
  • Pelecanidae
  • Sulidae
  • Phalacrocoracidae
  • Anhingidae
  • Phaethontidae
For prehistoric families, see article text.
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Morus
Linnaeus, 1753

Species
  • Morus bassanus
  • Morus capensis
  • Morus serrator
Synonyms

Moris

Gannets are seabirds in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.
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Sula
Brisson, 1760

Species
  • Sula nebouxii
  • Sula variegata
  • Sula dactylatra
  • Sula granti
  • Sula sula
  • Sula leucogaster
For fossil species, see text

The boobies
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In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches[1].
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Sphenisciformes
Sharpe, 1891

Family: Spheniscidae
Bonaparte, 1831

Modern genera
  • Aptenodytes
  • Eudyptes
  • Eudyptula
  • Megadyptes
  • Pygoscelis

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extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean


The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum
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For other uses of the term, see Fossil (disambiguation)


FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under the DOS operating system.
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P. penicillatus

Binomial name
Phalacrocorax penicillatus
(Brandt, 1837)

The Brandt's Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus
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Pinguinus
Bonnaterre, 1791

Species: P. impennis

Binomial name
Pinguinus impennis
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Great Auk (
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skeleton or skeletal system is the biological system providing physical support in living organisms. (By extension, non-biological outline structures such as gantries or buildings may also acquire skeletons.
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Anhingidae
Reichenbach, 1849

Genus: Anhinga
Brisson, 1760

Species

A. anhinga
A. melanogaster
A. rufa
A. novaehollandiae
For extinct taxa, see article text.
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skull is a bony structure found in many animals which serves as the general framework for the head. The skull supports the structures of the face and protects the head against injury.

The skull can be subdivided into two parts: the cranium and the mandible.
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Sulidae
Reichenbach, 1849

Genera
  • Morus
  • Sula
  • Papasula
For prehistoric genera, see text
Synonyms

Pseudosulidae

The bird family Sulidae comprises the gannets and boobies.
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