Prehistoric Birds

                            Gastornis

 Gastornis is an extinct genus of large flightless bird that lived during the late Paleocene and Eocene epochs of the Cenozoic. It was named in 1855, after Gaston Planté, who had discovered the first fossils in Argile Plastique formation deposits at Meudon near Paris (France). At that time, Planté (described as a "studious young man full of zeal" was at the start of his academic career, and his remarkable discovery was soon to be overshadowed by his subsequent achievements in physics.
In the 1870s, the famous American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope discovered another, more complete set of fossils in North America, and named them Diatryma ( daɪ.əˈtraɪmə dy-ə-try-mə ),from Ancient Greek διάτρημα, diatrema, meaning "canoe"
The fossil remains of these birds have been found in western-central Europe (England, Belgium, France and Germany). Gastornis parisiensis measured on average 1.75 meter (5.7 ft) tall, but large individuals grew up to 2 meter (6.6 ft) tall. The Gastornis had a remarkably huge beak with a slightly hooked top, which was taken as evidence suggesting that it was carnivorous. Gastornis had large powerful legs, with large, taloned feet, which also were considered in support of the theory that it was a predator.

 The plumage of Gastornis is unknown; it is generally depicted with a hair-like covering as in ratites, but this is conjectural. Some fibrous strands recovered from a Green River Formation deposit at Roan Creek, Colorado were initially believed to represent Gastornis feathers and named Diatryma filifera. Subsequent examination showed that they were actually not feathers at all but plant fibers or similar

 The skull of Gastornis remained unknown except for nondescript fragments, and several bones assigned to it were those of other animals. Thus, the European bird was long reconstructed as a sort of gigantic crane-like ornithuran, very different from the North American species. Eventually this was sorted out, and only then it was realized that Gastornis and Diatryma were so much alike to make many scientists today consider the latter a junior synonym of the former pending a comprehensive review. Consequently the correct scientific name is Gastornis. In fact, this similarity was recognized as early as 1884 by Elliott Coues, but his reasoning was initially discounted and subsequently ignored until the late 20th century. The following species are accepted today:

•   Gastornis were variously considered allied with diverse birds, such as waterfowl, ratites or waders. Their highly apomorphic anatomy makes reliable assignment to any one group of birds difficult, in particular since no particularly close relatives survive today. In modern times, they were placed with the "Gruiformes" assemblage, which includes cranes. But in the 21st century, these birds are most often considered to be Galloanseres, or "fowls", in the same family as chickens and waterfowl. Quite ironically, the original assessment of Hébert - who perceived similarities with the Anseriformes in the original tibia - thus would be far more correct than any later placement. Incidentally, since the Galloanseres are known to originate in the Cretaceous already, it is comfortably explained how such a gigantic bird could be around less than 10 million years after the non-avian dinosaurs became extinct. The following species are accepted today: Gastornis parisiensis Hébert, 1855 - the type species

Late Paleocene - Early Eocene of WC Europe

Synonyms: Gastornis edwardsii Lemoine, 1878; G. klaasseni Newton, 1885; G. pariensis (lapsus)

• Gastornis russeli L.Martin, 1992

Late Paleocene of Berru, France

• Gastornis sarasini (Schaub, 1929)

Early Eocene - middle Eocene of WC Europe

• Gastornis giganteus Cope, 1876

Early -? middle Eocene of SC North America

Synonyms: Barornis regens Marsh, 1894; Omorhamphus storchii Sinclair, 1928; O. storchi Wetmore, 1931 (unjustified emendation) Omorhamphus storchii was described based on fossils from the Lower Eocene of Wyoming. The species was named in honor of T. C. von Storch, who found the fossils remains in Princeton 1927 Expedition.. It was synonymized subjectively with Gastornis gigantea by Brodkorb (1967) and Witmer and Rose (1991).