Dynatoaetus
''Dynatoaetus'' is an extinct genus of large Accipitridae, bird of prey from the Pleistocene of Australia. It is among the largest known raptors of the region, second only to the Haast's eagle of New Zealand, with estimates suggesting a weight of up to . Although most closely related to modern Aegypiinae, vultures, it shows clear adaptations towards an active predatory lifestyle in the form of robust, powerful talons. This may either hint at it retaining these ancestral features from the closely related Circaetinae, serpent eagles or show that it convergent evolution, convergently evolved these features as it took on a similar lifestyle. Due to their size and robust bones, it is thought that ''Dynatoaetus'' would have been capable of taking large prey items like kangaroos, giant wombats and flightless birds. There are two species within the genus, the type species ''Dynatoaetus gaffae'' and the somewhat smaller ''Dynatoaetus pachyosteus'', both of which inhabited the same part of ...
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Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58See the 2014 version of the ICS geologic time scale
million years ago. It is the second and most recent epoch of the Neogene Period in the . The Pliocene follows the Epoch and is followed by the Epoch. Prior to the 2009 ...
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