''Strigogyps'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

from the Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It was probably around the size of a large

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

or a guan, weighing not quite . Apparently, as indicated by the ratio of lengths of wing to leg bones, ''S. sapea'' was flightless. Its legs were not adapted to running, so it seems to have had a walking lifestyle similar to

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s. Unlike other Cariamiformes which appear to have been mostly carnivorous, the specimens of one species, ''Strigogyps sapea'', suggest a facultatively herbivorous or omnivorous diet. Eocathartes robustus now Strigogyps

The type species of ''Strigogyps'' is ''S. dubius'', which was described by Gaillard in 1908. It was initially placed in the owl order Strigiformes and considered to be a sophiornithid. ''S. dubius'' is based on a single

tibiotarsus The tibiotarsus is the large bone between the femur and the tarsometatarsus in the leg of a bird. It is the fusion of the proximal part of the tarsus with the tibia. A similar structure also occurred in the Mesozoic Heterodontosauridae. These ...

from the

Late Eocene The Priabonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or the upper stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Eocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans ...

to Early Oligocene

Quercy Quercy (; , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and Auverg ...

phosphorites of France. This tibiotarsus was destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

during the bombing of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, but casts remain. In 1939, Gaillard described a second species of ''Strigogyps'', ''S. minor'', based on a

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

, two

coracoid A coracoid is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is present as part of the scapula, but this is n ...

s, and two carpometacarpi, also from Quercy. In 1981, Mourer-Chauviré redescribed ''S. minor'' as ''Ameghinornis minor'', the only member of the new phorusrhacid

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

, Ameghinornithinae. ''Ameghinornis'' was later placed in its own family, Ameghinornithidae. In 1987, Peters named another monospecific genus of ameghinornithid, ''Aenigmavis sapea'', based on a nearly complete skeleton from the Middle Eocene

Messel pit The Messel Formation is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in Hesse, central Germany, dating back to the Eocene Epoch (geology), epoch (about 47 Ma). Its geographic range is restricted to the Messel pit. There it unconformably overlie ...

. Mayr (2005) found ''Aenigmavis'' to be a species of ''Strigogyps'', ''S. sapea'', and found ''Ameghinornis'' to be synonymous with ''S. dubius'', as they both came from Quercy, and are almost identical except for coracoids and carpometacarpi of ''Ameghinornis'', which Mayr found to be unlike other ameghinornithids, and probably from an idiornithid. Strigogyps restoration

In 1935, Lambrecht described a new

New World vulture Cathartidae, known commonly as New World vultures or condors, are a family (biology), family of birds of prey consisting of seven extant species in five genus, genera. It includes five extant vultures and two extant condors found in the Americas. ...

, ''Eocathartes robustus'', and a hornbill, ''Geiseloceros robustus'', from the Middle Eocene (

Lutetian The Lutetian is, in the geologic timescale, a stage (stratigraphy), stage or age (geology), age in the Eocene. It spans the time between . The Lutetian is preceded by the Ypresian and is followed by the Bartonian. Together with the Bartonian it ...

) of the Geisel Valley of Germany. Each was based on a single specimen, and they were found very close together. Mayr (2007) found them to be synonymous and a species of ''Strigogyps'', ''S. robustus''. Recent studies (Alvarenga and Höfling 2003, Mayr 2005) have found ''Strigogyps'' to be a more basal member of Cariamae, and not particularly close to the phorusrhachids.Mayr, Gerald (2005): "Old World phorusrhacids" (Aves, Phorusrhacidae): a new look at ''Strigogyps'' ("''Aenigmavis''") ''sapea'' (Peters 1987). ''PaleoBios (Berkeley)'' 25(1): 11-1
HTML abstract
/ref> '' Salmila robusta'', another bird from Messel was found to be more basal than ''Strigogyps'', and the

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

composed of ''Salmila'' and Cariamae to be the sister taxon to Psophiidae within a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

Gruiformes.Mayr, G. 2002. A new specimen of Salmila robusta (Aves: Gruiformes: Salmilidae n. fam.) from the Middle Eocene of Messel. Paleontologische Zeitschrift 76(2/2): 305-316. Fragmentary remains from the Palaeocene and/or Eocene of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

have also been suggested to be phorusrhachids, but, like ''Strigogyps'', they probably are not.

References

* Peters, Dieter Stefan (2007): The fossil family Ameghinornithidae (Mourer-Chauviré 1981): a short synopsis. ''Journal of Ornithology'' 148(1): 25–28. PDF fulltext

External links

Tetrapod Zoology blog post on ''Strigogyps''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1291973 Eocene birds of Europe Oligocene birds of Europe Extinct flightless birds Paleogene France Fossils of France Quercy Phosphorites Formation Fossil taxa described in 1908

See also

References

External links