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Clymenoptilon Temporal range: 62–61 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skull
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Phaethontiformes
Genus:	†Clymenoptilon Mayr et al, 2023
Species:	†C. novaezealandicum
Binomial name
†Clymenoptilon novaezealandicum Mayr et al, 2023

Clymenoptilon is an extinct genus of phaethontiform bird related to modern tropicbirds. It contains a single species, C. novaezealandicum from the Paleocene-aged Waipara Greensand of New Zealand. Its name references Clymene, the mother of Phaethon in Greek mythology.

It is known from a partial skeleton with a nearly complete skull. It is the earliest known phaethontiform from the Southern Hemisphere (living only a few million years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event), suggesting that the group may have originated in Zealandia. It lived alongside the early pseudotooth bird Protodontopteryx, also one of the oldest representatives of its order.

References

1. ^ Mayr, Gerald; De Pietri, Vanesa L.; Love, Leigh; Mannering, Al; Crouch, Erica; Reid, Catherine; Scofield, R. Paul (2023-07-03). "Partial skeleton from the Paleocene of New Zealand illuminates the early evolutionary history of the Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds)". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 47 (3): 315–326. Bibcode:2023Alch...47..315M. doi:10.1080/03115518.2023.2246528. ISSN 0311-5518.
2. Lazaro, Enrico de (2023-09-01). "Paleocene Fossil Illuminates Early Evolutionary History of Tropicbirds | Sci.News". Sci.News: Breaking Science News. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
3. ^ "New fossil species suggests tropicbirds originated in Zealandia". RNZ. 2023-09-02. Retrieved 2023-12-02.

• Phaethontiformes
• Extinct birds of New Zealand
• Taxa named by Gerald Mayr
• Paleocene birds
• Fossil taxa described in 2023
• Prehistoric bird genera