Paleontologists have uncovered the fossilized remains of a new species of the Pleistocene eagle genus Dynatoaetus in Victoria Fossil Cave at Naracoorte, Australia.
The newly-described species lived during the Pleistocene period more than 50,000 years ago.
The bird was similar size to the living wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) and the extinct Australian vulture (Cryptogyps lacertosus).
Named Dynatoaetus pachyosteus, it had short, stout wing bones and very large and robust leg bones.
“This new eagle species would have been similar in wingspan to a wedge-tailed eagle, now Australia’s largest living eagle of prey, but its bones seem much more robust — especially its leg bones, suggesting it was even more powerful and heavily built,” said Flinders University paleontologist Ellen Mather.
“The Dynatoaetus genus was endemic to Australia, meaning it was found nowhere else in the world.”
“Now we have found two species and know this genus is not particularly closely related to any eagles outside Australia, we suggest that this group of raptors must have been in Australia for quite some time, rather than being a relatively recent arrival.”
“However, our analyses suggest they may be related to the large crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela) and the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), top predators in the tropical jungles Southeast Asia and New Guinea.”
Cryptogyps lacertosus was the size of a modern-day wedge-tailed eagle. Its bones — including an almost complete pair of wings from a single individual — were recovered from an underwater cave, known as the Green Waterhole or Fossil Cave, near Mount Gambier.
In the new study, Dr. Mather and colleagues connect these specimens to the bones they studied from a Nullarbor cave in Western Australia — suggesting Cryptogyps lacertosus was more a primitive vulture than previously thought.
“Most vultures in the Aegypiinae subfamily (Old World vultures related to the griffon vulture) have…
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