A skull of a new pelecaniform bird is described from the Middle Eocene of Messel (Germany). Masillastega rectirostris gen. et sp. nov. is tentatively referred to the Sulidae (boobies and gannets). If this assignment is correct, the new taxon would represent the earliest fossil record of the family, preceding Sula ronzoni Milne−Edwards, 1867 from the lowermost Oligocene of France by about 15 mil...