Leptoptilos robustus Meijer & Due, 2010

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Conservation Status

Extinct

Last record: Late Pleistocene

Distribution & Habitat

Flores, Indonesia

All known material of L. robustus has come from Liang Bua limestone cave so far (Meijer & Due, 2010; Meijer et al., 2013, 2022).

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Meijer, Hanneke J. M. and Due, R. A. (2010). A new species of giant marabou stork (Aves: Ciconiiformes) from the Pleistocene of Liang Bua, Flores (Indonesia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 160: 707-724. [Abstract]

Other references:

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

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)]

Meijer, Hanneke J. M. et al. (2013). Late Pleistocene-Holocene non-passerine avifauna of Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(4): 877-894. [Abstract]

Meijer, Hanneke J. M. et al. (2015). Continental-style avian extinctions on an oceanic island. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 429: 163-170. [Abstract]

Meijer, Hanneke J. M. et al. (2022). More bones of Leptoptilos robustus from Flores reveal new insights into giant marabou stork paleobiology and biogeography. R. Soc. Open Sci.9: 220435. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220435

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)]

Sutikna, Thomas et al. (2018). The spatio-temporal distribution of archaeological and faunal finds at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) in light of the revised chronology for Homo floresiensis. Journal of Human Evolution 124: 52-74.

http://www2.nrm.se/ve/birds/sape/SAPE_abstracts_2008.pdf

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