Cathartornis

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Cathartornis
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene
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Cathartornis gracilis.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Teratornithidae
Genus: Cathartornis
L. H. Miller, 1910
Species:
C. gracilis
Binomial name
Cathartornis gracilis
L. H. Miller, 1910

Cathartornis (" Cathartes Bird") is an ancient bird of the Teratornithidae family. The genus contains a single species, Cathartornis gracilis, known from only 2 tarsometatarsi, 1 complete and 1 containing only the distal end, recovered from the Late Pleistocene La Brea Tar Pits in Southern California. [1] [2] Since then, no other fossils have officially been referred to the taxon, though some fossils assigned to Teratornis could be from Cathartornis [3] and unpublished remains have been mentioned. [4]

References

  1. Miller, L. (1911). The condor-like vultures of Rancho La Brea (Vol. 6, No. 1). The University Press.
  2. Campbell, Kenneth, Scott, Eric & Springer, Kathleen (1999). "A new genus for the incredible teratorn". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 89: 169–175 via ResearchGate.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. DIAGNOSIS OF THE PRINCIPAL TAXA OF TERATORNITHIDAE (AVES: ACCIPITRIFORMES), INCLUDING TERATORNIS MILLER 1909 AND ITS SPECIES T. MERRIAMI AND T. WOODBURNENSIS
  4. Campbell, K. E., & Stenger, A. T. (2002). A new teratorn (Aves; Teratornithidae) from the Upper Pleistocene of Oregon.