Phorusrhacidae
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, were a clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic, 62–2 million years (Ma) ago. They were roughly 1–3 metres (3.3–9.8 ft) tall. Their closest modern-day relatives are believed to be the 80 cm-tall seriemas. Titanis walleri, one of the larger species, is known from Texas and Florida in North America. This makes the phorusrhacids the only known example of large South American predators migrating north during the Great American Interchange (which occurred after the volcanic Isthmus of Panama land bridge rose ca. 3 Ma ago). It was once believed that T. walleri only became extinct around the time of the arrival of humans in North America,[4] but subsequent datings of Titanis fossils have failed to provide evidence for their survival more recently than 1.8 Ma ago.[5] However, there exist additional findings that date from 450,000 years ago[3] and 17,000 years ago,[6] that suggest that at least some phorusrhacids survived until the late Pleistocene in Uruguay.
For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry. Get back to Aves | ||
Kelenken | Phorusrhacos | Titanis |