Comparison of wedge-tailed eagle sizes (top left, silhouette based on Vicki Nunn’s photo) and Cryptogyps lacertosus (top right, based on modern Gyps vulture silhouette). Comparisons of Wedge-tailed Eagle tarsometatarsi (lower right) and Cryptogyps (lower left), with the position of the tarsometatarsi shown in the leg (center, based on the illustration by Jollie, 1977). Credit: Ellen Mather, Flinders University Paleontology Laboratory.
Australia’s first fossil vulture has been confirmed more than 100 years after it was first described as an eagle.
The discovery, made by Flinders University and paleontology experts at the Museum of South Australia, highlights the diversity of Australian megafauna and other animals many thousands of years ago in the Pleistocene period.
The renamed Cryptogyps lacertosus (meaning powerful hidden vulture) lived during the late Pleistocene of Australia between 500 and 50 thousand years ago, say researchers in a new study published today in Zootaxa.
“Today we are familiar with a wedge-tailed eagle picking up a kangaroo carcass on the side of the road. Thousands of years ago, a very different bird would have played the role of carrion consumer, one that most people now it would be associated with the plains of Africa, ”says lead author Dr. Ellen Mather of Flinders University’s paleontology research lab.
Sharing the sky with wedge-tailed eagles, the extinct vulture also existed with huge marsupial herbivores such as Diprotodon and ferocious carnivores, including the marsupial lion Thylacoleo. But research has revealed that, unlike its similarly sized wedge-tail cousin, the Cryptogyps was not an eagle; was an “Old World” vulture, a group hitherto unknown in Australia.
“We compared the fossil material to birds of prey from around the world, and it soon became clear that this bird was not adapted to be a hunter, and therefore was not a hawk or an eagle,” says Dr. Mather. “The characteristics of the lower leg bone are too underdeveloped to support the musculature needed to kill prey.”
“When we placed Cryptogyps in an evolutionary tree, this confirmed our suspicions that the bird was a vulture, and we are very excited to finally post about this species.”
First described in 1905 by Charles Walter de Vis, an energetic English ornithologist who described many taxa in rapid succession while residing in Queensland, the fossil was first named Taphaetus lacertosus (powerful tomb eagle).
Flinders University researcher Dr. Ellen Mather with an African vulture leg bone and the fossilized leg bone of an extinct Australian vulture. Credit: Flinders University
Now Cryptogyps lacertosus has been given a new genus for which it is a notable species, says lead author, associate professor at Flinders University Trevor Worthy.
“The discovery solves a mystery of what happened to so many megafauna channels when the continent had no vultures. Now we know they were here. They have been hidden from view,” he says.
Especially important for this discovery are the bones of the lower legs, or tarsus, which revealed that this bird was a scavenger, not a typical eagle.
“This finding also reveals that the diversity of our predatory birds was much greater in the past. More importantly, the extinction of vultures in Australia has important ecological implications,” adds Dr Mather.
“Vultures play a very important role in ecosystems by accelerating the consumption of carcasses and reducing the spread of diseases.
“The loss of Cryptogyps could have caused a drastic disruption in ecosystem function for a long time, as other species struggled to fill their niche.”
The first bone of Cryptogyps lacertosus, a fragment of a one-winged bone, was found near Kalamurina Homestead on the Warburton River in South Australia in 1901. De Vis was believed to be an extinct relative of the eagle with falcon. It was only in the late 20th century that Australian paleontologists began to suspect that this fossil material might belong to a vulture instead of an eagle.
The relationships of the vultures were confirmed when Dr. Mather associated recently recognized fossil material, including crucial tarsus, from the Wellington Caves in New South Wales and the Leaena Breath Cave in Western Australia with the Kalamurina fossil.
A 25-million-year-old ancient eagle ruled the dog in Australia. More info: Ellen Mather et al, A new look at an old Australian raptor place “Taphaetus” lacertosus from Vis 1905 in the Old World vultures (Accipitridae: Aegypiinae), Zootaxa (2022). DOI: 10.11646 / zootaxa.0000.0.0 Provided by Flinders University
Citation: Recoding the history of vultures in Australia (2022, July 19) retrieved July 19, 2022 from
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair treatment for the purposes of private studies or research, no part may be reproduced without written permission. Content is provided for informational purposes only.