Gymnogyps amplus

Gymnogyps amplus is an extinct species of large New World vultures in the family Cathartidae. The species was first described by L. H. Miller in 1911 from a broken tarsometatarsus.[2][3]

Gymnogyps amplus
Temporal range: Late PleistoceneHolocene
Fossil skeleton from the La Brea Tar Pits
Tarsometatarsus of holotype from Samwel Cave, Shasta County, California
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Cathartidae
Genus: Gymnogyps
Species:
G. amplus
Binomial name
Gymnogyps amplus

The species is the only condor species found in the La Brea Tar Pits' Pit 10, which fossils date to "a Holocene radiocarbon age of 9,000 years."[3] The smaller, modern California condor may have evolved from G. amplus.[3]

References

  1. Miller, Loye Holmes (1911). "Avifauna of the Pleistocene Cave Deposits of California". Bulletin of the Department of Geology. University of California Publications. 6 (16): 390–391.
  2. Nadin, Elisabeth (26 October 2007). "Tracing the Roots of the California Condor". Caltech News. California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  3. Syverson, Valerie J.; Prothero, Donald R. (2010). "Evolutionary Patterns in Late Quaternary California Condors" (PDF). PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology. PalArch Foundation. 7 (1): 1–18. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
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