Styginetta

## "Styginetta"Styx River Duck

### Temporal Range

70 - 61 million years ago, Maastrichtian - Danian Stage, Late Cretaceous - Early Paleocene Period

## Characteristics

### Diet

Carnivore

***“ Flocks of Styginetta, a primitive relative of ducks, stop here on their travels. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *North America*
**"Styginetta"** (Styx River Duck) is an informally named genus of presbyornithid anserimorph bird that lived in North America 70 - 66 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. Hence, due to not being established yet, its name remains unitalicized in writing, and, should it be officially described by someone else, it can even be given a different name.

## Description

"Styginetta" is an presbyornithid bird that is depicted as an insectivorous water skimmer that resembles a cross between a duck and a flamingo. It is believed to be a survivor of the K-Pg Extinction Event that wiped out three-quarters of all life on Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs.

## Habitat

*Main: Hell Creek Formation*

Main: Hell Creek Formation

***“ These coastal seas are full of life. Yet on land, and only a few hundred miles away, there is desolation. Here, powerful movements deep in the Earth's crust are beginning to raise the Rocky Mountains. The immense changes in the landscape have cut off this lake from nearby rivers. Its waters evaporate in the strong winds and intense summer sun, and the minerals that have dissolved in it are beginning to reach toxic levels. For most, this water is simply too poisonous too drink. Even so, every year, this place is visited by all kinds of animals. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *North America*
"Styginetta" lived 70 - 61 million years ago in Laramidia, an island continent that would one day become western North America, which, by that time, was split in half by an inland sea. Remains have been excavated from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana and South Dakota. This formation shows that the sort of world that "Styginetta" lived in was one dominated by rivers, forests, and coastal plains, regions kept constantly humid by ample rainfall and a subtropical climate warmer than the area is today (hence, there was no cold season in that region back then).

Prehistoric Planet depicts "Styginetta" as visiting a lake hundreds of miles from the sea, slowly evaporating and degrading into toxicity due to the same tectonic movements raising the Rocky Mountains. This soda lake is depicted as being in the Denver Formation of Colorado. Little is known about the area, and "Styginetta" fossils have yet to actually be found there. However, deposits indicate that there were floodplains, marshes, and rivers that formed by the foot of the growing Rocky Mountains during that time, and the existence of "Styginetta" in other areas of the US outside of the Hell Creek Formation is somewhat plausible.

## Behavior

"Styginettas" appear to be curious and observant. These behaviors are meant to help them detect danger, given how they are small and vulnerable, the ideal snack for small predators (which can avoid their watchful eyes by approaching them silently from behind while they are focused on something else). Their flocking behavior allows for safety in numbers, which protects the many at the expense of the few who are targeted by predators, with one being singled out and caught by a *Pectinodon* while the rest of its flock escapes.

## Appearance

In the third segment of the episode, many animals are shown visiting an evaporating toxic lake for feeding opportunities. Among them, "Styginetta", a primitive relative of ducks, and a family of dinosaurs. Six juvenile *Pectinodons* poke out from the rocks, lead to the toxic lake by their father.

***“ These dinosaurs and the Styginetta are both drawn here by a strange seasonal bonanza. Flies. The larvae of these insects are able to filter out the lake's toxic salts, and, as a consequence, they thrive in immense numbers. Now, they're hatching into adults in their millions. They are a rich and abundant source of protein for all the lake's visitors. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *North America*
Watching millions of flies and emerging from the lake, the juvenile *Pectinodons* jump up and snap at the flies, but they soon eventually figure out that the best way to scoop up as many flies as possible is by rushing at them, stirring the flies like dirt from the ground, with their jaws gaping open to collect them in mouthfuls. A flock of "Styginetta" watch as the juveniles run around gulping flies, which eventually ends up with two of the juveniles crossing each other's paths while rushing, causing them to collide and get knocked to the ground. While all this is happening, however, the father of the *Pectinodon* chicks closes in on one "Styginetta" flock from behind, slowly approaching the birds while staying low, obscured by the rock and mineral pillars around the lake. By the time the birds realize he is there, the flock taking to the air, the *Pectinodon* leaps up and catches one by the throat in midair, swinging and slamming his prey twice to the ground before finishing off the bird with another bite.

***“ Success. A rather more substantial meal for the family, and just as well. The flies will only be here for so long, and the dinosaur family will be forced to find food elsewhere. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *North America*
As the "Styginetta" fly off, with many other flocks of them still ankle-deep in the lake, looking for flies to eat, the *Pectinodon* father brings his catch to his six chicks, the family settling down to eat as flocks of "Styginetta" fly overhead.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast, Episode 447: Dinosaurs in North America: Featuring Prehistoric Planet 2
2. ↑ Raynolds, R.G. 2002. Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary stratigraphy of the Denver Basin, Colorado. Rocky Mountain Geology, vol. 37, no. 2, p. 111-134.