MarcoSr Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 I’m making this post because I don’t think many TFF members are familiar with Pelagornithidae bony-toothed birds. I first became aware of bony-toothed birds a few years ago when the son of my friend Gary found a beautiful jaw of a bony-toothed bird in the Miocene of Maryland. However, I really wasn’t expecting to find any specimens in the Eocene of Virginia that I regularly collect. However, recently Gary, who I collect with on a regular basis, found a piece of a bony-toothed bird jaw in the Eocene of Virginia. My friend Mike then showed me a really nice specimen that he had also collected in the Eocene of Virginia. So I went back and looked at my Eocene of Virginia specimens and realized I also had a specimen. Even though I and Gary and Mike all have specimens, bony-toothed bird jaw specimens are exceptionally rare from the Eocene of Virginia. In order to confirm my Pelagornithidae bony-toothed bird specimen ID, I e-mailed the below pictures of my and Mike’s specimen to a world renowned Eocene bird expert in Germany, and he replied back with the below excerpt: “You are absolutely right - these are jaw fragments of bony toothed birds. Nice finds!” Below are pictures of my specimen (note the ruler is in millimeter increments): Below are pictures of Mike’s really nice specimen (note the ruler is in millimeter increments): I’m curious if other collectors have found Pelagornithidae bony-toothed bird jaw specimens in the Miocene or Eocene of Maryland or Virginia, and/or if collectors are finding specimens in other places worldwide. If you have a bony-toothed bird jaw specimen, please post pictures to this thread. Marco Sr. 6 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historianmichael Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 I do not have any specimens to show, but I wanted to add that PBS Eons has a great video on Youtube called "How Vertebrates Got Teeth...And Lost Them Again" that includes a brief discussion about transitional birds with both beaks and teeth and hypothesizes why birds developed beaks. Beautiful specimens! 2 Follow me on Instagram (@fossil_mike) to check out my personal collection of fossils collected and acquired over more than 15 years of fossil hunting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 Nice, marco. I would love to find even a fragment like this in Wyoming, but our Eocene is all continental whereas these things seem to have been shorelone/pelagic birds. I am still looking for Diatryma pieces, though (no luck, yet) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 8, 2022 Author Share Posted June 8, 2022 4 hours ago, historianmichael said: I do not have any specimens to show, but I wanted to add that PBS Eons has a great video on Youtube called "How Vertebrates Got Teeth...And Lost Them Again" that includes a brief discussion about transitional birds with both beaks and teeth and hypothesizes why birds developed beaks. Beautiful specimens! Wow, that is a very interesting video. Below is a link to this video in case other TFF members want to watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHMHPjPZIUI Marco Sr. 1 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 8, 2022 Author Share Posted June 8, 2022 4 hours ago, jpc said: Nice, marco. I would love to find even a fragment like this in Wyoming, but our Eocene is all continental whereas these things seem to have been shorelone/pelagic birds. I am still looking for Diatryma pieces, though (no luck, yet) I would really like to find a Diatryma piece also, but I don't think they inhabited the Maryland/Virginia area in the Paleocene/Eocene. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 I've seen beak pieces from the late Paleocene/Early Eocene of Morocco and the Middle Miocene Sharktooth Hill Bonebed of California. I was never that lucky in Bakersfield. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 9, 2022 Author Share Posted June 9, 2022 3 hours ago, siteseer said: I've seen beak pieces from the late Paleocene/Early Eocene of Morocco and the Middle Miocene Sharktooth Hill Bonebed of California. I was never that lucky in Bakersfield. Jess I wasn't aware that bony-toothed bird beak fossils are found at Sharktooth Hill. Something else to look for when in Bakersfield. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 4 hours ago, MarcoSr said: Jess I wasn't aware that bony-toothed bird beak fossils are found at Sharktooth Hill. Something else to look for when in Bakersfield. Marco Sr. Hi Marco Sr., Oh yeah. They're there but just super-rare. Jess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 The Pungo River Formation at Lee Creek is another locality where these have been found. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 10, 2022 Author Share Posted June 10, 2022 1 hour ago, Al Dente said: The Pungo River Formation at Lee Creek is another locality where these have been found. Eric That is interesting. I need to look at all my bones from Lee Creek. I also have a 20 gallon Tupperware container filled with bones from Miocene sites in Maryland and Virginia that I should also look through. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 10, 2022 Author Share Posted June 10, 2022 8 hours ago, siteseer said: Hi Marco Sr., Oh yeah. They're there but just super-rare. Jess Jess I found a 2010 post on the web, Central Coast Critters: Osteodontornis, that had the below pictures: Osteondornis orri fossil from a quarry outside Santa Maria CA, which is in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History: Osteodontornis jaw fragments from Sharktooth Hill, Kern County: Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 10, 2022 Author Share Posted June 10, 2022 I found a number of papers on bony-toothed birds that were free downloads on the web. Kloess Poust Stidham 2020 Earliest fossils of giant‑sized bony‑toothed birds Aves Pelagornithidae) from the Eocene of Seymour Island Antarctica Kloess Poust Stidham 2020 Earliest fossils of giant‑sized bony‑toothed birds Aves Pelagornithidae) from the Eocene of Seymour Island Antarctica.pdf MAYR GOEDERT MC LEOD 2013 PARTIAL SKELETON OF A BONY-TOOTHED BIRD FROM THE LATE OLIGOCENE EARLY MIOCENE OF OREGON USA AND THE SYSTEMATICS OF NEOGENE PELAGORNITHIDAE MAYR GOEDERT MC LEOD 2013 PARTIAL SKELETON OF A BONY-TOOTHED BIRD FROM THE LATE OLIGOCENE EARLY MIOCENE OF OREGON USA AND THE SYSTEMATICS OF NEOGENE PELAGORNITHIDAE.pdf BOURDON AMAGHZAZ BOUYA 2010 Pseudotoothed Birds Aves Odontopterygiformes from the Early Tertiary of Morocco BOURDON AMAGHZAZ BOUYA 2010 Pseudotoothed Birds Aves Odontopterygiformes from the Early Tertiary of Morocco.pdf MAYR RUBILAR-ROGERS 2010 OSTEOLOGY OF A NEW GIANT BONY-TOOTHED BIRD FROM THE MIOCENE OF CHILE WITH A REVISION OF THE TAXONOMY OF NEOGENE PELAGORNITHIDAE MAYR RUBILAR-ROGERS 2010 OSTEOLOGY OF A NEW GIANT BONY-TOOTHED BIRD FROM THE MIOCENE OF CHILE WITH A REVISION OF THE TAXONOMY OF NEOGENE PELAGORNITHIDAE.pdf MAYR SMITH 2010 BONY-TOOTHED BIRDS AVES PELAGORNITHIDAE FROM THE MIDDLE EOCENE OF BELGIUM MAYR SMITH 2010 BONY-TOOTHED BIRDS AVES PELAGORNITHIDAE FROM THE MIDDLE EOCENE OF BELGIUM.pdf Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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