Pasquiaornis
Pasquiaornis was a diving seabird that lived in the warm, shallow sea that once covered part of North America. It had teeth in its beak and was a great swimmer, chasing fish and other sea creatures underwater.1
When did it live?
How fast was it?
Fun facts
Pasquiaornis lived about 95 to 93 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1
Two species are known: Pasquiaornis hardiei and Pasquiaornis tankei. P. tankei was about one-third larger than P. hardiei.1
Pasquiaornis was a member of the Hesperornithes, a group of toothed, diving birds that were mostly flightless.1
Its wing bones were thickened and not well suited for flying, so scientists think it probably could not fly.1
Fossils of at least 9 individuals were found in a small area, which might mean they lived in colonies or died together in a mass event.1
The rocks where Pasquiaornis was found were once the bottom of the Western Interior Seaway, a shallow sea that split North America in two.1
Ask Rex about Pasquiaornis
Rex only answers questions about this page. 10 questions a month.
Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Pasquiaornis
- Named by
- Tokaryk et al. 19972
- Group
- Early birds
- Family / clade
- Hesperornithiformes2
- Classification
- Theropoda > Avialae2
- Age of the rocks
- 100 to 94 million years (Cenomanian)2
- Rock formations
- Belle Fourche2
- Countries
- Canada2
- Fossil records
- 2 in the Paleobiology Database2
- Discovery
- Pasquiaornis was named in 1997 by Tim Tokaryk, Stephen Cumbaa and John Storer. The fossils were collected near Arborfield, Saskatchewan, mostly during 1992 to 1993 expeditions by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and the Canadian Museum of Nature.12
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure whether Pasquiaornis could still fly, because its wing bones look like those of flying birds but are too thick for good flight.1
Where the facts come from
- Pasquiaornis (en.wikipedia.org)
- Pasquiaornis in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex
Archaeopteryx
Hesperornis
Ichthyornis
Baptornis
Jurapteryx
Gobipteryx
Tyrannosaurus
Triceratops
Velociraptor
Spinosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Parasaurolophus