Clymenoptilon

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.^[1][2][3]

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

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.^[1][3]