A new genus and species of giant accipitrid bird being named Dynatoaetus gaffae has been identified from fossil remains found South Australia.
Dynatoaetus gaffae was a member of Accipitridae, a family of small to large birds of prey that includes eagles, hawks, and Old World vultures.
The ancient bird lived in Australia during the Pleistocene epoch, between 700,000 and 50,000 years ago.
It had a wingspan up to 3 m (10 feet) wide and powerful talons wide enough to grab a kangaroo, making it the largest bird of prey to ever live on the Australian continent.
Its size is quite large compared to most living eagles, but it is still smaller than the largest known individuals of two other distantly related extinct species: the Haast’s eagle (Hieraaetus moorei) from New Zealand and Gigantohierax suarezi from Cuba.
Dynatoaetus gaffae was closely related to Old World vultures of Africa and Asia and the critically endangered monkey-eating or Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi).
“Dynatoaetus gaffae and the recently described Cryptogyps are new genera of raptors unique to Australia, respectively eagle- and vulture-like, that existed until around 50,000 years ago,” said Dr. Ellen Mather, a paleontologist at Flinders University.
“This discovery reveals that this incredible family of birds was once much more diverse in Australia, and that raptors were also impacted by the mass extinction that wiped out most of Australia’s megafauna.”
“It was ‘humongous’ — larger than any other eagle from other continents, and almost as large as the world’s largest eagles once found on the islands of New Zealand and Cuba, including the whopping extinct 13-kg Haast’s eagle of New Zealand,” said Dr. Trevor Worthy, also from Flinders University.
“It had giant talons, spreading up to 30 cm (12 inches), which easily would have been able to dispatch a juvenile giant kangaroo, large flightless bird or other species of lost megafauna from that era, including the young…
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