Grus melitensis Lydekker, 1890
Maltese crane
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Considered a synonym of G. primigenia by (Mlíkovský, 2002).
Conservation Status
Extinct or Invalid (synonym)
Last record: Late Pleistocene
Distribution & Habitat
Malta (& Sicily?)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Lydekker, R. (1890). On the remains of some large extinct birds from the cavern-deposits of Malta. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 28: 403-411.
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
Harrison, C. J. O. (1979). The extinct Maltese crane. Il-Merill (Malta) 20: 14-15.
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]
Mlíkovský, Jiří. (2002). Cenozoic Birds of the World: Part 1: Europe. Praha, Czech Republic: Ninox Press.
Northcote, E. Marjorie. (1982). The extinct Maltese crane Grus melitensis. Ibis 124(1): 76-80. [[url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1982.tb03745.x/abstract]Abstract[/url]]
Northcote, E. Marjorie. (1984). Crane Grus fossils from the Maltese Pleistocene. Palaeontology 27(4): 729-735.
Northcote EM (1992) Swans (Cygnus) and cranes (Grus) from the Maltese Pleistocene. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series 36, 285–292.
Northcote, E. Marjorie and Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile. (1985). The distinction between the extinct Pleistocene European Crane, Grus primigenia, and the extant Asian Sarus Crane, G. antigone. Geobios 18(6): 877-881. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-6995(85)80041-3
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]
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.
http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YH_CDDJGqKoC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Grus+melitensis&ots=A0ScYRLSJ7&sig=TpzVJ8Fu4tGIM8KIVXkOc6Mu-Sw#v=onepage&q=Grus%20melitensis&f=false