Aepyornis medius Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1866:97
Greater elephant bird
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Aepyornis grandidieri Rowley, 1867:892;
Conservation Status
Invalid (synonym)
Distribution
Madagascar
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Milne-Edwards, A. and Grandidier, A. (1866). Nouvelles observations sur les caractères Zoologiques et les affinités Naturelles de l'Aepyornis de Madagascar. In: Milne-Edwards, A. (1866-1869). Recherches sur la faune ornithologique éteinte des Îles Mascareignes et de Madagascar. Paris: E. Martinet.
Other references:
Angst, Delphine and Buffetaut, Eric. (Due October 2017). Palaeobiology of Extinct Giant Flightless Birds. ISTE Press.
Brodkorb, Pierce. (1963). Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 7, 4: 179-293.
Endo, H. et al. (2012). Coxa Morphologically Adapted to Large Egg in Aepyornithid Species Compared with Various Palaeognaths. Anatomia Histologia Embryologia 41(1): 31-40. [Abstract]
Grealy, Alicia et al. (2023). Molecular exploration of fossil eggshell uncovers hidden lineage of giant extinct bird. Nature Communications 14: 914. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36405-3
Hansford, James P. and Turvey, Samuel T. (2018). Unexpected diversity within the extinct elephant birds (Aves: Aepyornithidae) and a new identity for the world's largest bird. R. Soc. open sci. 5: 181295.
Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser.
Lambrecht, Kàlmàn. (1933). Handbuch der Palaeornithologie. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin. 1024 pp.
Milne-Edwards, A. and Grandidier, A. (1894). Observations sur les Aepyornis de Madagascar. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences 118: 122-127.
Kieren J. Mitchell, Bastien Llamas, Julien Soubrier, Nicolas J. Rawlence, Trevor H. Worthy, Jamie Wood, Michael S. Y. Lee, Alan Cooper. Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution. Science, 2014 DOI: 10.1126/science.1251981
Rothschild, Lionel Walter. (1907). Extinct birds: an attempt to write in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times, that is within the last six or seven hundred years: to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction. London: Hutchinson & Co. XXIX + 243 pp. [p. 227]
Rowley, G. D. (1867). On the egg of Aepyornis, the colossal bird of Madagascar. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London [1867] (3): 892-895.
Tyrberg, Tommy. (2009). Holocene avian extinctions, pp. 63-106. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK & New York, USA: Oxford University Press. xii + 352 pp.
Worthy, Trevor H. (2009). Fossil Birds. In: Gillespie, R., Clague, D. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Islands. Encyclopedias of the Natural World, No. 2. University of California Press.