Meleagris crassipes Miller, 1940
Bigfoot turkey, Big-foot turkey
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Wisconsinan
Distribution & Habitat
Mexico
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Miller, Loye. (1940). A New Pleistocene Turkey From Mexico. Condor 42(3): 154-156.
Other references:
Brasso, R. L., and S. D. Emslie. 2006. Two new late Pleistocene avifaunas from New Mexico. Condor 108:721-730.
Czaplewski, Nicholas J., Mead, Jim I. and Peachey, William D. (2022). Late Pleistocene vertebrate fauna of Pyeatt Cave, Huachuca Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona. In: Morgan, Gary S. et al. Late Cenozoic Vertebrates from the American Southwest: A Tribute to Arthur H. Harris. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 88: 301-326.
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
Harris, Arthur H. (1987). Reconstruction of Mid Wisconsin Environments in Southern New Mexico. National Geographic Research 3(2): 142-151.
Harris, Arthur H. (1993). Quaternary vertebrates of New Mexico, pp. 179-197. In: Vertebrate Paleontology in New Mexico, New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Bulletin 2: i-vii, 1-338.
Howard, Hildegarde. (1962). Bird remains from a prehistoric cave deposit in Grant County, New Mexico. Condor 64: 241-242.
Howard, Hildegarde. (1971). Quaternary avian remains from Dark Canyon Cave, New Mexico. Condor 73(2): 237-240.
Jefferson, G. T. (1991). A catalogue of Late Quaternary vertebrates from California. Part one; nonmarine lower vertebrate and avian taxa. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Technical Reports 5: 1-60.
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)]
Morgan, G. S. and Lucas, S. G. (2005). Pleistocene vertebrate faunas in New Mexico from alluvial, fluvial, and lacustrine deposits, pp. 185-248: In: Lucas, S. G., Morgan, Gary S. and Zeigler, K. E. (eds.). New Mexico's Ice Ages. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 28: 1-280.
Needham, C. E. 1936. Vertebrate remains from Cenozoic rocks. Science 84: 537.
Rea, A. M. (1980). Late Pleistocene and Holocene turkeys in the Southwest. Contrib. Sci., Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angel. Co. 330: 209-224.
Reynolds, R. E., R. L. Reynolds, C. J. Bell, N. J. Czaplewski, H. T. Goodwin, J. I. Mead, and B. Roth. (1991). The Kokoweef Cave faunal assemblage, pp. 97-103. In: Crossing the Borders: Quaternary Studies in Eastern California and Southwestern Nevada (R. E. Reynolds, compiler). MDQRC 1991 Special Publication, San Bernardino County Museum Association, Redlands, CA.
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)]
Steadman, David W. (1980). A review of the osteology and paleontology of turkeys (Aves: Meleagridinae). Contrib. Sci., Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angel. Co. 330: 131-207.
Tyrberg, Tommy. (2008). The Late Pleistocene Continental Avian extinction – an evaluation of the fossil evidence. Oryctos 7: 249-269.
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