Cathartornis

Cathartornis
Temporal range: 23–0.01 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Cathartiformes
Family: †Teratornithidae
Genus: †Cathartornis
L. H. Miller, 1910
Species:
†C. gracilis
Binomial name
†Cathartornis gracilis
L. H. Miller, 1910

Cathartornis ("Cathartes Bird") is an ancient bird of the Teratornithidae family. It lived somewhere between 23 million years (Miocene Epoch) and 10,000 years (Pleistocene Epoch) ago. The only evidence of the bird's existence is a few bones. Its remains were documented in 1910.[1][2] Cathartornis was described on the basis of 2 tarsometatarsi, 1 complete and 1 containing only the distal end, recovered from the Pleistocene La Brea Tar Pits in Southern California.[3] Since then, no other fossils have officially been referred to the taxon, though some fossils assigned to Teratornis could be from Cathartornis[4] and unpublished remains have been mentioned.[5]

  1. ^ "BioLib - Cathartornis gracilis". Biolib.cz. 2007-11-19. Retrieved 2010-03-18.
  2. ^ Howard, Hildegarde (Autumn 1972). "The Incredible Teratorn Again" (PDF). The Condor. 74 (3): 341–344. doi:10.2307/1366594. JSTOR 1366594.
  3. ^ Miller, L. (1911). The condor-like vultures of Rancho La Brea (Vol. 6, No. 1). The University Press.
  4. ^ DIAGNOSIS OF THE PRINCIPAL TAXA OF TERATORNITHIDAE (AVES: ACCIPITRIFORMES), INCLUDING TERATORNIS MILLER 1909 AND ITS SPECIES T. MERRIAMI AND T. WOODBURNENSIS
  5. ^ Campbell, K. E., & Stenger, A. T. (2002). A new teratorn (Aves; Teratornithidae) from the Upper Pleistocene of Oregon.