hesperornithid

plural hesperornithids

1. biologyAny extinct avialan in the family Hesperornithidae.

   Finally, the Volgorod locality, Maastrichtian in age, has yielded two dinosaurs (an indeterminate hesperornithid and a basal theropod) and a few turtles.

   2011, David B. Weishampel, Coralia-Maria Jianu, Transylvanian Dinosaurs, Johns Hopkins University Press, page 109

   2 more examples

   The arrival of these hesperornithids in more southern waters during the early Campanian may indicate a cooler climate, closer shores, adaptations to changes in prey, or other factors.

   2017, Michael J. Everhart, Oceans of Kansas, Indiana University Press, page 365

   2020, Alan Feduccia, Romancing the Birds and Dinosaurs, Universal Publishers (BrownWalker Press), page 83, 9. Cretaceous foot-propelled divers, the hesperornithids, were grouped cladistically with loons (Eocene) and grebes (Miocene) as a clade, which would require re-evolution of teeth from an edentulous ancestor.