Dromornithidae

Dromornithids
Temporal range: Oligocene - Pleistocene, 25–0.03 Ma Possible Eocene record
Dromornis stirtoni
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Pangalloanserae
Superorder: Galloanserae
Family: †Dromornithidae
Fürbringer, 1888
Genera

Dromornithidae, known as mihirungs (after Tjapwuring Mihirung paringmal, "giant bird") and informally as thunder birds or demon ducks, were a clade of large, flightless Australian birds of the Oligocene through Pleistocene epochs. All are now extinct. They were long classified in Struthioniformes (the ratites), but are now usually classified as galloanseres.[1][2][3] Dromornithids were part of the Australian megafauna. One species, Dromornis stirtoni, was 3 m (9 ft 10 in) tall. Only a single species, Genyornis newtoni survived into the Late Pleistocene.[4][5] They are thought to have been herbivorous.[6][7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Murray1998 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Worthy2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Murray2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Miller, G. H. et al. (1999)
  5. ^ Roberts, R. G. et al. (2001)
  6. ^ Gerald Mayr, Paleogene Fossil Birds, 2009[page needed]
  7. ^ McInerney, P. L.; Blokland, J. C.; Worthy, T. H. (2024). "Skull morphology of the enigmatic Genyornis newtoni Stirling and Zeitz, 1896 (Aves, Dromornithidae), with implications for functional morphology, ecology, and evolution in the context of Galloanserae". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. 36 (6): 1093–1165. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2308212.