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About Ichthyornis:
A true prehistoric bird of the late Cretaceous period--not a pterosaur or feathered dinosaur--Ichthyornis looked remarkably like a modern seagull, with a long beak and tapered body. However, there were some major differences: this prehistoric bird had a full set of sharp, reptilian teeth planted in a very reptile-like jaw (which is one reason why the first remains of Ichthyornis were confused with those of a marine reptile, Mosasaurus).
Ichthyornis is yet another of those prehistoric creatures that was discovered ahead of its time, before paleontologists fully understood the evolutionary relationship between birds and dinosaurs: the first specimen was unearthed in 1870, and described a decade later by the famous paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh, who referred to this bird as "Odontornithes."
