PBDB Taxon

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Presbyornis

Osteichthyes - Anseriformes - Presbyornithidae

Taxonomy

Presbyornis was named by Wetmore (1926).

It was assigned to Presbyornithinae by Lambrecht (1933); and to Presbyornithidae by Hay (1930), Wetmore (1940), Wetmore (1956), Wetmore (1960), Grande (1984), Carroll (1988), Livezey (1997), Kurochkin et al. (2002), Kurochkin and Dyke (2010), Tambussi et al. (2019).

Species

P. isoni, P. mongoliensis, P. pervetus, P. recurvirostrus

Entered

by J. Hunter on 2003-01-23; modified by D. Sinopoli on 2026-07-16

Synonyms

Coltonia was named by Hardy (1959). Its type is Coltonia recurvirostra.

It was synonymized subjectively with Presbyornis by Ericson (2000).

It was assigned to Recurvirostridae by Hardy (1959).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1926	Presbyornis Wetmore p. 396 figs. Plate 27, Figs. 1-20
1930	Presbyornis Hay p. 339
1933	Presbyornis Lambrecht p. 533
1940	Presbyornis Wetmore p. 60
1956	Presbyornis Wetmore p. 75
1959	Coltonia Hardy p. 106
1960	Presbyornis Wetmore p. 28
1984	Presbyornis Grande p. 215
1988	Presbyornis Carroll
1997	Presbyornis Livezey p. 398
2002	Presbyornis Kurochkin et al. p. 8
2010	Presbyornis Kurochkin and Dyke
2019	Presbyornis Tambussi et al.

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
class	Osteichthyes
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)
—	Crocopoda

Rank	Name	Author
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Theropoda	()
—	Neotheropoda
—	Averostra	Paul 2002
—	Tetanurae
—	Coelurosauria	()
—	Maniraptora
—	Paraves
class	Aves
subclass	Neornithes	Gadow 1893
—	Neognathae	(Pycraft 1900)
—	Pangalloanserae	Gauthier and de Queiroz 2001
—	Galloanserae	Sibley and Ahlquist 1990
superorder	Galloanserimorphae
order	Anseriformes	Wagler 1831
family	Presbyornithidae
genus	Presbyornis

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Presbyornis Wetmore 1926

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†Presbyornis isoni Olson 1994

†Presbyornis mongoliensis Kurochkin and Dyke 2010

†Presbyornis pervetus Wetmore 1926

†Presbyornis recurvirostrus Hardy 1959

Invalid names: Coltonia Hardy 1959 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatiteo

Entire body:

yeso

Adult length:

10 to < 100o

Adult width:

1.0 to < 10o

Adult height:

1.0 to < 10o

Architecture:

compact or denseo

Ontogeny:

accretion, modification of partso

Grouping:

solitaryo

Environment:

terrestrialo

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

volantg

Diet:

herbivoreg

Reproduction:

oviparouso

Dispersal:

direct/internalo

Dispersal 2:

mobileo

Created:

2009-01-03 20:13:55

Modified:

2009-01-03 22:13:55

Source: g = genus, o = order

References: Livezey 1997, Marsh 1875, Kiessling 2004

Age range: base of the Late/Upper Paleocene to the top of the Bumbanian or 59.24000 to 48.07000 Ma

Collections (9 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Tiffanian	60.9 - 57.5	USA (North Dakota)	P. isoni (15000)
Late/Upper Paleocene	59.24 - 56.0	Mongolia (Omnogov)	P. mongoliensis (37008)
Late/Upper Paleocene	59.24 - 56.0	USA (Maryland)	P. isoni (84046)
Wasatchian	56.0 - 51.1	Canada (Nunavut)	P. pervetus (185212)
Bumbanian	56.0 - 48.07	Mongolia (Southern Mongolia)	P. mongoliensis (37206)
Wasatchian - Bridgerian	56.0 - 45.9	USA (Wyoming)	P. sp. (16134)
Eocene	56.0 - 33.9	USA (Utah)	Coltonia recurvirostra (74296) P. pervetus (123112)
Bridgerian	51.1 - 45.9	USA (Wyoming)	P. sp. (16296)