''Neophrontops'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Old World vulture Old World vultures are vultures that are found in the Old World, i.e. the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and which belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, buzzards, kites, and hawks. Old World vultures are not clos ...

. Despite being taxonomically an "Old World" vulture, specifically a member of the subfamily

Gypaetinae The Gypaetinae is one of two subfamilies of Old World vultures the other being the Aegypiinae. Some taxonomic authorities place the Gypaetinae within the Perninae hawks. They are presently found throughout much of Africa, Asia, and southern Europ ...

, it was native to North America, with six species having been named, spanning from the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 Ma to 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). It was prece ...

to the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of ...

, all except ''N. americanus'' only known from fragmentary remains, though well preserved remains are known from the late Middle-Late Pleistocene aged

La Brea Tar Pits La Brea Tar Pits is an active paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' in Spanish) has seeped up from the gro ...

of Southern California.

Taxonomy

* ''N. americanus'' (Early Miocene to Late Pleistocene) Questioned whether all remains assigned to this species belonged to it because "if it had corresponded to one biological species, it would have had an extraordinary vast existence." * ''N. dakotensis'' (Early-Middle Pliocene) Only known from a distal humerus * ''N. vetustus'' (Middle Miocene) Only known from a distal humerus, which only differs from that of ''N. dakotensis'' by the fact that it is about half the size * ''N''. ''slaughteri'' (Late Pliocene) * ''N. vallecitoensis'' (Middle Pleistocene)

References

Accipitridae Pleistocene birds of North America {{Accipitriformes-stub