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Ichthyornithidae

Ichthyornithidae

Overview

Ichthyornithidae Marsh, 1873

Common Name: 'Fish bird'

Extant/Extinct

Key morphological features: The Ichthyornithidae were toothed sea birds of the Late Cretaceous.  Although they have no modern relatives, it is thought that they resembled modern terns or gulls in water-based feeding and possibly migrating capabilities.

        SIZE: ~25cm

Paleoecology:

        MOBILITY: Mobile (fly, swim)

        FEEDING MODE: Predator of small fish

        HABITAT: epifaunal

Sources:

Everhart, M. J., 2005. Oceans of Kansas: A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea. Indiana University Press, Bloomington. 322 pp.


Genera of Ichthyornithidae present in the Cretaceous of the Western Interior Seaway