| Dasornis Temporal range: Early Eocene (but see text)
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| Reconstructed skeleton | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | †Odontopterygiformes |
| Family: | †Pelagornithidae |
| Genus: | †Dasornis Owen, 1870 |
| Type species | |
| †Dasornis emuinus Bowerbank, 1854
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| Species | |
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†D. emuinus (1854) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Numerous, see text | |
Dasornis is a genus of prehistoric pseudotooth birds. These were probably close relatives of either pelicans and storks or waterfowl; they are placed in the order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty.[1]
Almost all known material of this bird is from some 50 million years ago (Ma) and has been recovered from the Ypresian (Early Eocene) London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey (England). The exception are a few approximately 45 Ma-old remains from the Lutetian (Middle Eocene, MP11-13) of Etterbeek (Belgium) that are only tentatively included here, and some even more conjectural remains from outside Europe (see below).[2]
- ^ Bourdon (2005), Mayr (2009: p.59)
- ^ Brodkorb (1963: pp.248-249), Mlíkovský (2002: pp.78,82-83), Mayr (2009: p.56) – see "Systematics and taxonomy" for the misidentifications involved.