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Aepyornis gracilis Monnier, 1913:15

Gracile elephant bird

 

 

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Only known from an isolated femur, and differentiated based upon its "less robust size" (Hume & Walters, 2012:26).

Now considered invalid (Hansford & Turvey, 2018)

 

Conservation Status

Invalid (synonym)

 

Distribution

Madagascar

 

Biology & Ecology

 

 

Hypodigm

Only known from an isolated femur (Hume & Walters, 2012:26).

 

Media

 

 

References

Original scientific description:

Monnier, L. (1913). Paléontologie de Madagascar 7. Les Aepyornis. Annales de Paléontologie 8: 125-172.

 

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]

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.

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

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.

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/9336/aepyornis-gracilis

 

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