Baptornis advenus
By José Carlos Cortés on @quetzalcuetzpalin-art
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Name: Baptornis advenus
Name Meaning: Diving Bird
First Described: 1877
Described By: Marsh
Classification: Dinosauria, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Hesperornithes
Baptornis is our first decidedly in-order Hesperornithine, the group of diving, eventually fully aquatic & flightless almost-birds that so well occupy depictions of Late Cretaceous dinosaurian life. Baptornis is one that was fully aquatic, so not a transitional Hesperornithine - weirdly enough, the ones that show the process from an Ichthyornis-like ancestor to the weird and highly specialized Hesperornis are coming later in the week because I’m bad at scheduling. Baptornis was described a while ago, by Marsh, and this makes it one of the first Mesozoic near-birds described by paleontologists. It was found in the Niobrara Formation of Kansas, and as such, lived in the great Western Interior Seaway of North America, in the Coniacian to Campanian ages of the Late Cretaceous, about 83 or so million years ago. It is known from an extensive amount of material, possibly even more than Hesperornis itself.
By Scott Reid on @drawingwithdinosaurs
It had a wingspan of about 36 centimeters, and its body length was about 70 centimeters, though the length of its tail is unknown. It had a long and slender head with a slim toothed snout, as well as a long and slender neck, allowing it to dive and grab fish in its mouth. It had a cylindrical body and its wings really weren’t used for much of anything, though its legs were long. It was the smallest Hesperornithine in the Western Interior Seaway, and as such it probably lived in shallower water and fed on smaller fish, such as herring-like fish, and other small ocean foods than its close by relatives. It also had webbed feet, and was very clumsy on land, pushing itself around rather than walking, because its legs would have been tucked into its body and the feet spread out - it might have been able to waddle or hop, more so than Hesperornis, but still not great.
Sources:
Martyniuk, M. P. 2012. A Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds and other Winged Dinosaurs. Pan Aves; Vernon, New Jersey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptornis
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