Kingdom Animalia Class Aves Species †N. hungerfordi | Phylum Chordata Clade Neoaves Rank Genus | |
Scientific name Novacaesareala hungerfordi People also search for Ceramornis, Lonchodytes, Ludiortyx | ||
Novacaesareala is a genus of prehistoric bird. It is known only from the fossil remains of a single partial wing of the species Novacaesareala hungerfordi. This was found in Hornerstown Formation deposits, probably from the Early Paleocene (Danian); it lived around 64 million years ago on the western shores of the Atlantic, where now is New Jersey.
It appears to have been most similar to Torotix clemensi, an even more enigmatic bird from around the same time. Consequently, it might be placed in the Torotigidae. In any case, this species (as well as Torotix) seem to have been seabirds, most probably relatives of the Procellariiformes and/or some lineage of the paraphyletic "Pelecaniformes".
References
Novacaesareala Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA