''Titanohierax gloveralleni'' is an extinct

hawk Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...

species known from fossils found in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

(today the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

and

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

), and The

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

Description

''Titanohierax'' was a very large hawk, with a measured fore-claw length of and an estimated weight of around , making roughly equal in size to the females of the largest living

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

s. This species was most likely an

apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic lev ...

in the Antilles.

Taxonomy

The extinct crab-hawk ''

Buteogallus borrasi ''Buteogallus borrasi'' is a species of giant buteonine hawk which went extinct in the early Holocene. Formerly endemic to Cuba, this huge bird of prey probably fed on Pleistocene megafauna. Little is known about its appearance and ecology, so no ...

'' was formerly placed in ''Titanohierax'' genus with ''T. gloveralleni''. ''T. gloverallenis closest living relatives are the modern, still-extant species of crab-hawks in ''Buteogallus''.

References

External links

* Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Extinct birds of the Caribbean Accipitridae Prehistoric bird genera Extinct monotypic bird genera † † Birds of the Bahamas Extinct animals of Cuba Extinct animals of the Dominican Republic Extinct animals of Haiti Birds described in 1937 Fossil taxa described in 1937 Taxa named by Alexander Wetmore {{Accipitriformes-stub