Andalgalornis

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iAndalgalornis
Fossil range: Upper Miocene - Lower Pliocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Phorusrhacidae
Genus: Andalgalornis
Patterson & Kraglievich, 1960
Species: A. steulleti
Binomial name
Andalgalornis steulleti
(Kraglievich, 1931)
Synonyms
  • Phororhacos steulleti

Kraglievich, 1931

  • Phororhacos deautieri

Kraglievich, 1931

  • Andalgalornis ferox

Patterson & Kraglievich, 1960

Andalgalornis was a genus of giant flightless predatory birds of the family Phorusrhacidae or "terror birds" that lived in Argentina and contained the single species A. steulleti.

It is known from an incomplete skeleton and some single bones found in the Upper Miocene to Lower Pliocene Andalgala Formation of sites in the Entre Ríos and Catamarca Provinces of NE and NW Argentina. (Chiquimil) Provinces.

The birds stood around one and a half meters tall. The subfamily to which the genus belonged, the Patagornithinae, contained species that were of quite slender build; it looked much like a more elegant and smaller Phorusrhacos, but had a proportionally higher beak, the most massive in regards to the overall size of the bird of all phorusrhacids.

[edit] References

  • Alvarenga, Herculano M. F. & Höfling, Elizabeth (2003): Systematic revision of the Phorusrhacidae (Aves: Ralliformes). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 43(4): 55-91 PDF fulltext
  • Kraglievich, Lucas (1931): Contribución al conocimiento de las aves fósiles de la época araucoentrerriana. Physis 10: 304-315. [Article in Spanish]
  • Patterson, B. & Kraglievich, Lucas (1960): Sistemática y nomenclatura de las aves fororracoideas del Plioceno Argentino. Publicacion del Museo Municipal Ciencias Naturales y Tradicionales de Mar del Plata 1: 1-51. [Article in Spanish]


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