This is an overview of the of the Eocene Messel Formation as explored by the Messel Pit excavations in Germany. A former quarry and now UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Messel Formation preserves what lived in and around a meromictic lake surrounded by a paratropical rainforest during the latest early to earliest middle Eocene, approximately 47 Ma. A complete list of animal taxa was published in 2024.
Several groups of Messel birds share characteristics with the modern seriemas, which has led to them being placed within the clade Cariamae in the past. However, this placement typically occurred under the assumption that they are a group within gruiformes, which has been disputed by more recent analysis. Instead more recent publications consider Cariamae (or Cariamiformes) as basal members of Australaves.