Cygnus falconeri Parker, 1865
Giant swan, Maltese swan, Falconer's swan (proposed)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
Malta
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Parker, W. K. (1865). Preliminary notes on some fossil birds from the Zebbug Cave, Malta. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1865: 752-753.
Other references:
Borg, John J. (2024). The avifauna of the Maltese Quaternary – a historical overview. Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural History, Malta 1(1): 86-98.
Faurby, Søren, Matthews, Tom J., Triantis, Kostas A. and Sayol, Ferran. (2026). Quantifying the unrecorded loss of avian phylogenetic diversity. Ecography 2026: e08267. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecog.08267
Hunt, Christopher O. and Schembri, Patrick J. (1999). Quaternary environments and biogeography of the Maltese Islands, pp. 41-75. In: Mifsud, A. and Savona Ventura, C. (eds.). Facets of Maltese Prehistory. Malta: The Prehistoric Society of Malta, vii + 243 pp.
Matthews, Thomas J., Triantis, Kostas A., Wayman, Joseph P., Martin, Thomas E., Hume, Julian P., Cardoso, Pedro, Faurby, Søren, Mendenhall, Chase D., Dufour, Paul, Rigal, François, Cooke, Rob, Whittaker, Robert J., Pigot, Alex L., Thébaud, Christophe, Jørgensen, Maria Wagner, Benavides, Eva, Soares, Filipa C., Ulrich, Werner, Kubota, Yasuhiro, Sadler, Jon P., Tobias, Joseph A. and Sayol, Ferran. (2024). The global loss of avian functional and phylogenetic diversity from anthropogenic extinctions. Science 386(6717): 55-60. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk7898 [Supplementary Materials; Dryad dataset; Zenodo codeset]
Matthews, Thomas J., Wayman, Joseph P., Cardoso, Pedro, Sayol, Ferran, Hume, Julian P., Ulrich, Werner, Tobias, Joseph A., Soares, Filipa C., Thébaud, Christophe, Martin, Thomas E. and Triantis, Kostas A. (2022). Threatened and extinct island endemic birds of the world: Distribution, threats and functional diversity. Journal of Biogeography 49(11): 1920-1940. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14474 [Appendix S1 (.docx); Appendix S2 (.pdf)]
Mlíkovský, Jiří. (2002). Cenozoic Birds of the World: Part 1: Europe. Praha, Czech Republic: Ninox Press. 406 pp.
Northcote, E. Marjorie. (1981-83). The giant Maltese swan. Il-Merill (Malta) 22: 6-8.
Northcote, E. Marjorie. (1982). Size, form and habitat of the extinct Maltese swan Cygnus falconeri. Ibis 124(2): 148-158. [Abstract]
Northcote, E. Marjorie. (1992). Swans (Cygnus) and cranes (Grus) from the Maltese Pleistocene. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series 36: 285-292.
Parker, W. K. (1869). On some fossil birds from the Zebbug Cave, Malta. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 6: 119-24.
Pavia, M. (2000). Le avifaune pleistoceniche dell’Italia meridionale. Tesi Università di Torino Scienze de la Terra, Torino.
Pavia, M. (2001). The Middle Pleistocene fossil avifauna from the "Elephas mnaidriensis Faunal Complex" of Sicily (Italy): preliminary results, pp. 497-501. In: Cavarretta, C., Gioia, P., Mussi, M. and Palombo, M. R. (eds.). The World of Elephants – International Congress, Rome. Proceedings of the 1st international congress – Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche, Rome. [automatic download]
Sayol, Ferran, Steinbauer, Manuel J., Blackburn, Tim M., Antonelli, Alexandre and Faurby, Søren. (2020). Anthropogenic extinctions conceal widespread evolution of flightlessness in birds. Science Advances 6(49): eabb6095. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6095 [Supplementary Material (Data File S1)]
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.
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/7774/cygnus-falconeri-maltese-swan