PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Pelecanus (pelican)

Osteichthyes - Pelecaniformes - Pelecanidae

Taxonomy

Pelecanus was named by Linnaeus (1758). It is extant. Its type is Pelecanus onocrotalus. It is the type genus of Pelecanidae, Pelecanoidea.

It was assigned to Steganopodes by Shufeldt (1891), De Vis (1905); and to Pelecanidae by Hay (1902), Hay (1930), Lambrecht (1933), Wetmore (1933), Wetmore (1940), Wetmore (1956), Brodkorb (1967), Carroll (1988), Olson (1999), Olson and Rasmussen (2001), Mlikovsky (2002), del Hoyo et al. (2014), Stidham et al. (2014), Clements et al. (2017), Worthy and Nguyen (2020).

Species

P. (Cyrtopelicanus), P. (Leptopelicanus), P. cadimurka, P. cautleyi, P. conspicillatus (syn. P. grandiceps), P. crispus, P. erythrorhynchos, P. novaezealandiae, P. occidentalis, P. odessanus, P. onocrotalus (type species), P. proavus, P. rufescens, P. schreiberi, P. sivalensis, P. thagus, P. tirarensis

Species lacking formal opinion data

P. aethiopicus, P. macropus

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1758	Pelecanus Linnaeus
1891	Pelecanus Shufeldt p. 818
1902	Pelecanus Hay p. 532
1905	Pelecanus De Vis p. 15
1930	Pelecanus Hay p. 290
1933	Pelecanus Lambrecht p. 277
1933	Pelecanus Wetmore p. 3
1940	Pelecanus Wetmore p. 10
1956	Pelecanus Wetmore p. 12
1967	Pelecanus Brodkorb p. 109
1988	Pelecanus Carroll
1999	Pelecanus Olson p. 503
2001	Pelecanus Olson and Rasmussen p. 259
2002	Pelecanus Mlikovsky p. 87
2014	Pelecanus Stidham et al. p. 2
2014	Pelecanus del Hoyo et al.
2017	Pelecanus Clements et al.
2020	Pelecanus Worthy and Nguyen p. 89

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
class	Osteichthyes
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)
—	Crocopoda

Rank	Name	Author
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Saurischia	()
—	Theropoda	()
—	Neotheropoda
—	Averostra	Paul 2002
—	Tetanurae
—	Coelurosauria	()
—	Maniraptora
—	Paraves
class	Aves
subclass	Neornithes	Gadow 1893
—	Aequornithes
—	Feraequornithes
superorder	Pelecanimorphae	Huxley 1867
order	Pelecaniformes	Sharpe 1891
family	Pelecanidae	Vigors 1825
genus	Pelecanus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Pelecanus Linnaeus 1758 [pelican]

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Subg. †Pelecanus (Cyrtopelicanus) Reichenbach 1852

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†Pelecanus (Cyrtopelicanus) halieus Wetmore 1933

Subg. Pelecanus (Leptopelicanus) Reichenback 1852

†Pelecanus cadimurka Rich and Van Tets 1981

†Pelecanus cautleyi Davies 1880

Pelecanus conspicillatus Temminck 1824 [Australian pelican]

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Invalid names: Pelecanus grandiceps De Vis 1905 [synonym]

Pelecanus crispus Bruch 1832 [Dalmatian pelican]

Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmelin 1789 [American white pelican]

†Pelecanus novaezealandiae Scarlett 1966

Pelecanus occidentalis Linnaeus 1766 [brown pelican]

†Pelecanus odessanus Widhalm 1866

Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaaeus 1758

†Pelecanus proavus De Vis 1892

Pelecanus rufescens Gmelin 1789 [pink-backed pelican]

†Pelecanus schreiberi Olson 1999

†Pelecanus sivalensis Davies 1880

Pelecanus thagus Molina 1782 [Peruvian pelican]

†Pelecanus tirarensis Miller 1966

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatiteo

Entire body:

yeso

Adult length:

10 to < 100o

Adult width:

1.0 to < 10o

Adult height:

1.0 to < 10o

Architecture:

compact or denseo

Ontogeny:

accretion, modification of partso

Grouping:

solitaryo

Environment:

marineo

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

ground dwellingo

Diet:

carnivoresubo

Reproduction:

oviparouso

Dispersal:

direct/internalo

Dispersal 2:

mobileo

Created:

2017-04-17 10:40:27

Modified:

2017-04-17 10:40:27

Source: subo = suborder, o = order

References: Benton 1983, Marsh 1875, Kiessling 2004, Bush and Bambach 2015

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Late/Upper Oligocene to the top of the Holocene or 27.30000 to 0.00000 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 23.04 Ma

Collections (74 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Late/Upper Oligocene	27.3 - 23.04	Australia (South Australia)	Pelecanus tirarensis (51412 216700)
Late/Upper Miocene	11.63 - 5.333	Ukraine	Pelecanus odessanus (187783)
Hemphillian	9.4 - 4.7	Mexico (Baja California Sur)	Pelecanus sp. (224532)
Late/Upper Hemphillian - Zanclean	9.4 - 3.6	USA (Florida)	Pelecanus schreiberi (18535)
Messinian - Zanclean	7.246 - 3.6	Kenya	Pelecanus sp. (22242)
Zanclean	5.333 - 3.6	Ukraine	Pelecanus odessanus (176420)
Zanclean	5.333 - 3.6	USA (North Carolina)	Pelecanus schreiberi (52582)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	Ukraine (Odessa)	Pelecanus odessanus (76502)
Late/Upper Pliocene	3.6 - 2.58	USA (Idaho)	Pelecanus halieus (176409)
Piacenzian	3.6 - 2.58	India	Pelecanus sivalensis (176226)
Gelasian - Calabrian	2.58 - 0.774	Tanzania	Pelecanus aethiopicus (22615)
Quaternary	2.58 - 0.0	Australia (South Australia)	Pelecanus cadimurka (216701)
Irvingtonian	1.4 - 0.21	USA (Florida)	Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (20400)
Rancholabrean	0.21 - 0.014	Mexico (Sonora)	Pelecanus erythrorhynchus (20495)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	Australia (South Australia)	Pelecanus conspicillatus (135977) Pelecanus grandiceps, Pelecanus conspicillatus (13319) Pelecanus grandiceps, Pelecanus proavus (176412) Pelecanus tirarensis (182002)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	Congo-Kinshasa	Pelecanus rufescens (22066)
Late/Upper Pleistocene (interglacial)	0.129 - 0.0117	USA (California)	Pelecanus sp. (20622)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	Mexico (Jalisco)	Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (192628)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	USA (California)	Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (192599 192605 192607 192610) Pelecanus erythrorhynchus (176267 236636) Pelecanus macropus, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (20273) Pelecanus occidentalis (125234)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	USA (Oregon)	Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (93251) Pelecanus erythrorhynchus (176222)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Canada (Quebec)	Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (224189)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	United Kingdom	Pelecanus crispus (125443)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	USA (Illinois)	Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (195051 195052) Pelecanus occidentalis (195053)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Venezuela	Pelecanus occidentalis (197931 197932 197934 197935 197936 197937)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Sudan	Pelecanus sp. (21903)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Australia (Queensland)	Pelecanus proavus (176421)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Australia (South Australia)	Pelecanus cadimurka (176423) Pelecanus conspicillatus (176422 176424 176425 176426 176427 176430) Pelecanus tirarensis (176428 176429)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Virgin Islands, U.S.	Pelecanus occidentalis (132605)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	USA (California)	Pelecanus occidentalis (194911 194925 194926) Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus erythrorhynchus (194928) Pelecanus sp. (194905 194906 194910 194913 194914) Pelecanus sp., Pelecanus occidentalis (194912 194924)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Puerto Rico	Pelecanus occidentalis (194583)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Mexico (Chiapas)	Pelecanus occidentalis (195047)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	New Zealand	Pelecanus conspicillatus (100554 194619) Pelecanus novaezealandiae (176431 176432 176433 176434)