Part 2

Genus Graculavus Marsh, 1872 4

Graculavus velox Marsh, 1872 4

Graculavus velox? 6

Genus Telmatornis Marsh, 1870 6

Telmatornis priscus Marsh, 1870 6

Genus Anatalavis, new genus 11

Anatalavis rex (Shufeldt, 1915), new combination 11

Genus Laornis Marsh, 1870 12

Laornis edvardsianus Marsh, 1870 12

Genus Palaeotringa Marsh, 1870 12

Palaeotringa littoralis Marsh, 1870 12

Palaeotringa littoralis? 14

Palaeotringa vagans Marsh, 1872 14

Graculavidae, Genus and Species Indeterminate 14

Order Procellariiformes? 14

Family Tytthostonychidae, new family 16

Genus Tytthostonyx, new genus 16

Tytthostonyx glauconiticus, new species 16

Family and Genus Indeterminate 16

Aves, incertae sedis 19

Discussion 19

Appendix 20

Literature Cited 21

The Cretaceous Birds of New Jersey

Storrs L. Olson and David C. Parris

Introduction

Fossils of Cretaceous birds are scarce and usually difficult to interpret. The better known forms such as Hesperornis and Ichthyornis belong to strange and archaic groups having little or nothing to do with the modern avian radiation. The only areas that have yielded Cretaceous birds of essentially modern aspect in sufficient quantities to be regarded as avifaunal assemblages are the inland deposits of the Lance Formation and strata of similar age in Wyoming (Brodkorb, 1963a) and the marine deposits of New Jersey. Of these, the assemblage from New Jersey is the more diverse.

Fossil birds were described from the Cretaceous greensands of southern New Jersey over a century ago by Marsh (1870, 1872). These have been carried, largely uncritically, in lists and compilations ever since (e.g. Hay, 1902; Lambrecht, 1933; Rapp, 1943; Miller, 1955; Brodkorb, 1963b, 1967). Although some of these specimens were subsequently re-examined and their status altered (Shufeldt, 1915; Cracraft, 1972, 1973), there has been no modern comprehensive revision of all of the avian taxa that have been named from the Cretaceous of New Jersey. In recent years, additional fossil birds have been recovered from these deposits that add further to our knowledge of late Mesozoic avifaunas, making a review of this material all the more desirable.