Titanohierax Temporal range: Pleistocene
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Accipitriformes |
Family: | Accipitridae |
Genus: | †Titanohierax Wetmore, 1937 |
Species: | †T. gloveralleni
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Binomial name | |
†Titanohierax gloveralleni Wetmore, 1937
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Titanohierax gloveralleni, also known as the Bahama eagle, is a large species of extinct hawk from the Late Quaternary of the Caribbean. Remains of the animal have been found on multiple islands in The Bahamas. The animal is known from a handful of bones found across multiple islands, including a tarsometatarsus, partial metacarpal, and nearly complete right ulna. The animal was described based on the former two by Alexander Wetmore in 1937, with all other currently referred material being assigned by Storrs Olson and colleagues in 1982.
During the Pleistocene, T. gloveralleni would have been an apex predator of the Bahamian islands, feeding on animals including the large hutia Geocapromys. It is thought that a decline in suitable habitat for both it and its preferred prey items, along with possible pressure from human activity, would have led to the decline and eventual extinction of the animal.