Paleontologists have unearthed and examined the fossilized foot bones of a Phorsulaceae bird that lived in South America 12 million years ago.
model of parafisolnis At the Vienna Natural History Museum. Image credit: Armin Reindl / CC BY-SA 4.0.
Terrorbird is a member of Forsulaceae a family of large carnivorous flightless birds in the order Calliamales.
These extinct birds were very large, weighing up to 70 kg and measuring 0.9 to 2 m (3 to 6.6 ft) in height.
They had slender bodies and unique motor adaptations for moving around.
Their huge beaks and mechanical adaptations of the skull suggest that they were efficient predators.
They lived in South America during the Cenozoic era, but are also known from the Pliocene-Pleistocene of North America and the Eocene of Africa.
Phorsuracidae includes nearly 20 species in 14 genera and 5 subfamilies (Brontornithidae, Mesembriornithidae, Patagornithidae, Phorsuracidae, and Psilopterinidae).
The closest living relative is believed to be Selimas, the only survivor of the family. Cariamydae.
Dr. Siobhan Cooke, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said: “Fearbirds lived on the ground, had limbs adapted for running, and fed primarily on other animals.”
The end of the left tibiotarsus of a fear bird found in Colombia's Tatacoa Desert. Image credit: Degrange others., doi: 10.1002/spp2.1601.
In the 2000s, fossilized leg bones of the feared bird were discovered in the fossil-rich area. Tatacoa desert In Colombia.
The fossil dates back to the Miocene epoch, about 12 million years ago, and is thought to be the northernmost evidence of a fear bird in South America to date.
“The size of the bones indicates that this fearsome bird may be the largest species identified to date, approximately 5-20% larger than any known Phorsulaceae.” said Dr. Cook.
“Previously discovered fossils indicate that the size of the feared bird species ranged from 0.9 to 2.7 meters (3 to 9 feet) tall.”
The fossil probably has tooth marks, such as: Purusaurusan extinct species of caiman thought to have been up to 9 meters (30 feet) long.
“Given the size of the crocodile 12 million years ago, we believe this fearsome bird may have died from its injuries,” Dr Cook said.
This fearsome bird also coexisted with primates, ungulate mammals, giant sloths, and glyptodonts, car-sized relatives of armadillos.
“This is a different kind of ecosystem than what we see today and what we saw in other parts of the world in the era before South and North America connected,” Dr. Cook said.
team's paper be published in a magazine paleontology papers.
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Federico Javier Desgrange others. 2024. A new species of gigantic fear bird (Caryamiformes, Phorsulaceae) from the mid-Miocene tropical environment of La Venta, northern South America. paleontology papers 10 (6): e1601;doi: 10.1002/spp2.1601
Source: www.sci.news
