Grus fossil map
Where fossils of Grus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 0 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 0 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Prehistoric birds |
|---|---|
| Lived | 48.07 million years ago to the present (Lutetian to Holocene) |
| Periods | Paleogene, Neogene, Quaternary |
| Family | Gruidae |
| Named by | Brisson 1760 |
| Fossil records | 54 occurrences at 38 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Egypt, Indonesia, Greece, Japan, Bermuda, Timor-Leste, Argentina … |
| Rock formations | txn:39499, Okeechobee, Gabal Silsila, Yorktown, Vanheim, Bridger |
About Grus
Grus is a genus of large birds in the crane family.
The genus Grus erected by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The name Grus is the Latin word for "crane". The German ornithologist Peter Simon Pallas was sometimes credited with erecting the genus in 1766 but the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled in 1956 that Brisson should have priority.
The genus formerly included additional species. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that the genus Grus, as then defined, was polyphyletic. In the resulting rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the sandhill crane, the white-naped crane, the sarus crane and the brolga were moved to the resurrected genus Antigone that had been erected by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853. The Siberian crane was moved to the resurrected monotypic genus Leucogeranus.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Grus (bird) (revision 1379256826), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q47549.
