Ichthyornis

American  

[ik-thee-awr-nis] / ˌɪk θiˈɔr nɪs /

noun

1. an extinct genus of toothed birds having vertebrae resembling those of fishes.

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ichthyornis British  

/ ˌɪkθɪˈɔːnɪs /

noun

1. an extinct Cretaceous sea bird of the genus Ichthyornis, thought to have resembled a tern

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Etymology

Origin of Ichthyornis

< New Latin (1872) < Greek ichthy- ichthy- ( def. ) + órnis “bird”

Example Sentences

They suspect the jointed beak was present in even older birds, because the rest of the specimen indicates it was a relative of Ichthyornis, another ancient bird that lived about 20 million years earlier.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 30, 2022

Several skulls of its older Ichthyornis relative have been described in recent years with bones that suggested the bird’s upper palate might have been jointed, but the evidence was still fuzzy.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 30, 2022

And until now, none of the hundred or so specimens of Ichthyornis have included decent skulls, leaving a gap in our understanding of how the avian head evolved.

From National Geographic • May 2, 2018

For more than a century the only known skulls of the ancient bird Ichthyornis were either fragmentary, smashed flat or both.

From Scientific American • May 2, 2018

Ichthyornis, ik-thi-or′nis, n. a fossil bird with vertebr� like those of fishes, and with teeth set in sockets.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various