Describer

Marsh, 1893

Time

Cretaceous Late Campanian

Classification

Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria Maniraptora Avialae Ornithothoraces Ornithurae [Hesperonithiformes]

Fossilsite

Claggett Shale, Upper Yellowish Sandstone, Dog Creek, Fergus County, Montana, US

Info

Coniornis altus (Marsh, 1893) = Hesperornis montanus (Shufeldt, 1915)

Tibiotarsus and vertebrae.

Professor Marsh was firmly convinced that the great toothed divers f the extinct genus Hesperorniws ere confinedt the Cretaceous Beds of Kansas. So tenacious as he of this opinion that, when the fossil remains of a big extinct diver came into his possession, having been collected in Montana by Hatcher, he was very loath to consider it a species of Hesperornis, not withstanding the fact that the fossil bones presented strongh esperornithine characters. He therefore created a new genus Coniornis to contain it. (Shufeldt, 1915)