| Gymnogyps amplus Temporal range: Late Pleistocene – Holocene
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Fossil skeleton from the La Brea Tar Pits | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Cathartidae |
| Genus: | Gymnogyps |
| Species: | †G. amplus
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Gymnogyps amplus L. H. Miller, 1911
| |
Samwel Cave, Shasta County, California
Gymnogyps amplus is an extinct species of large New World vulture in the family Cathartidae. The species was first described by Loye H. Miller (1911)[1] in 1911 from a partial tarsometatarsus[2] recovered from Pleistocene cave deposits in Samwel Cave of northern California.[3] Harvey I. Fisher (1944) designated a set of plesiotypes from the Rancho La Brea which includes a cranium, rostrum, and mandible.[4]
The species is the only condor species found in the La Brea Tar Pits' Pit 10, which fossils date to "a Holocene radiocarbon age of 9,000 years."[4] The smaller, modern California condor may have evolved from G. amplus.[4]
- ^ Miller, Loye Holmes (1911). "Avifauna of the Pleistocene Cave Deposits of California". Bulletin of the Department of Geology. 6 (16). University of California Publications: 390–391.
- ^ Nadin, Elisabeth (26 October 2007). "Tracing the Roots of the California Condor". Caltech News. California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
- ^ Fisher, H. I. (1947). "The skeletons of recent and fossil Gymnogyps". Pacific Science. 1 (4): 227–236.
- ^ a b c Syverson, Valerie J.; Prothero, Donald R. (2010). "Evolutionary Patterns in Late Quaternary California Condors" (PDF). PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology. 7 (1). PalArch Foundation: 1–18. Retrieved 11 October 2015.