Baptornis

diving bird

• baptein / baptos · Greek · to dip, dive / dipped
• ornis · Greek · bird

The name combines a Greek root related to dipping or diving with the Greek word for "bird". It refers to the animal's lifestyle as a flightless, foot-propelled diving bird that hunted fish in the shallow inland sea covering North America in the Late Cretaceous.

Named by

Marsh

Year named

1877

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Santonian

Found in

Niobrara Formation, Kansas, USA

Baptornis is a toothed, flightless diving bird in the group Hesperornithes, close to Hesperornis. Birds are technically avian dinosaurs, but it is not a non-avian dinosaur. The type species is Baptornis advenus.