Included Species.--Type species only. =_Laornis edvardsianus_ Marsh, 1870= Figure 8_a,c,e_ _Laornis edvardsianus_ Marsh, 1870:206. Holotype.--Distal end of right tibiotarsus, YPM 820. Locality and Horizon.--From pits of the Pemberton Marl Company at Birmingham, Burlington County, New Jersey; collected by J.C. Gaskill; Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), basal Hornerstown Formation. Measurements (in mm).--Distal end of tibiotarsus, YPM 820: distal width across condyles 22.6, depth of external condyle 19.3, depth of internal condyle 21.1, least shaft width 11.7, least shaft depth 9.6. Comparisons.--The very large size of this specimen has undoubtedly been a factor in misleading those who have attempted to identify it, as it came from a bird the size of a swan or a large crane. The affinities of this fossil have long been questioned and the species has for most of its history been in limbo. Marsh (1870:207) concluded only that _Laornis_ “shows a strong resemblance in several respects to the _Lamellirostres_ [Anseriformes], and also to the _Longipennes_ [Charadriiformes (Lari) and Procellariiformes], but differs essentially from the typical forms of both of these groups.” In its own nebulous way, this assessment is concordant with our placement of _Laornis_ in a charadriiform group that was near the ancestry of the Anseriformes. Doubtless only on the strength of Marsh's comments. Cope (1869-1870:237) placed _Laornis_ in the “Lamellirostres.” Hay (1902:531) included _Laornis_ in the Anatidae. Shufeldt (1915:23) hardly clarified matters when he characterized _Laornis_ as “at least one of the generalized types of waders,” being a “remarkable type, which seems to have, judging from this piece of the tibiotarsus, Turkey, Swan, Crane, and even other groups all combined in it.” Lambrecht (1933:526) included _Laornis_ as a genus incertae sedis in his “Telmatoformes,” between the Aramidae and Otididae. The type was restudied by Cracraft (1973:46) who put _Laornis_ in the Gruiformes and created a new family (Laornithidae) and superfamily (Laornithoidea) for it. He included it in his suborder Ralli, the only other member of which was the Rallidae. After preliminary comparisons, Olson (1974) ventured that _Laornis_ belonged in the suborder Lari of the Charadriiformes. Brodkorb (1978:214) listed _Laornis_ under Aves incertae sedis and guessed that it might be related to the Pelecaniformes.