It was long thought these fossils came from an eagle. Turns out they belong to the only known vulture species from Australia

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:19:44 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/it-was-long-thought-these-fossils-came-from-an-eagle-turns-out-they-belong-to-the-only-known-vulture-species-from-australia-187017>

"In 1905, a fragment of a fossil wing bone discovered near the Kalamurina
Homestead, South Australia, was described as an extinct eagle and named
Taphaetus lacertosus, meaning “powerful grave eagle”.

Now research published by myself and mycolleagues can reveal this species was
no eagle at all. It was an “Old World” vulture, which we have renamed
Cryptogyps lacertosus, or “powerful hidden vulture”.

This is the first time one of these scavenging raptors has been found to have
lived in Australia. Living more than tens of thousands of years ago, we believe
Cryptogyps likely died out with ancient Australia’s megafauna. There’s much
about the species we’ve yet to find out."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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