Madagascar Crowned Eagle

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Madagascar Crowned Eagle
Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Birds of prey (Accipitriformes)
Family : Hawk species (Accipitridae)
Subfamily : Aquilinae
Genre : Stephanoaetus
Type : Madagascar Crowned Eagle
Scientific name
Stephanoaetus mahery
Goodman , 1994

The Madagascar crowned eagle ( Stephanoaetus mahery ) is an extinct bird of prey that was endemic to Madagascar . It is only known from subfossil remains. The type epithet mahery is derived from the Malagasy language and means "powerful" or "mighty".

features

The holotype, a left tarsometatarsus , which was brought to light in 1925 at Ampasambazimba 85 km west of the Malagasy capital Antananarivo, has a length of 108.0 mm, a proximal width of 26.1 mm and a distal width of 27.9 mm. The material marked as paratypes includes distal toe bones, the first claws of the right and left sides, the distal quarter of the left ulna, and a pelvic fragment . The nature of the tarsometatarsus shows it to be a close relative of the African crowned eagle ( Stephanoaetus coronatus ). However, it was larger and is considered the most powerful bird of prey in Madagascar in the Holocene .

Way of life

On the basis of the length of the tarsometatarsus and comparisons with the way of life of the crowned eagle, the first describer Steven M. Goodman suspects that the Madagascar crowned eagle hunted large lemurs and Malagasy hippos . The young elephant birds ( Aepyornis ) could also have been among his prey.

die out

The Madagascar crowned eagle probably disappeared in the 16th century due to the destruction of the forests and the overhunting of its prey by the Malagasy .

Vogel-Roch legend

In the tales of Marco Polo and in the Sindbad story from 1001 Nights , the giant bird Roch appears, which numerous authors such as Louis Lavauden (1931) have associated with the elephant birds . Other authors such as Raymond Decary (1937) and Claude Allibert (1992) denied this and identified the bird Roch as a bird of prey. If the bird Roch was not completely imaginary, this legend could have its origins in the Madagascar crowned eagle.

literature

  • Steven M. Goodman: Description of a new species of subfossil eagle from Madagascar: Stephanoaetus (Aves: Falconiformes) from the deposits of Ampasambazimba. In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. No. 107, 1994, pp. 421-428.
  • Michael Walters, Julian Pender Hume: Extinct Birds. (= Poiser Monographes ). A & C Black, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4081-5725-1 , pp. 81-82.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steven M. Goodman: Description of a new species of subfossil eagle from Madagascar: Stephanoaetus (Aves: Falconiformes) from the deposits of Ampasambazimba . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . No. 107 , 1994, pp. 421-428 .
  2. ↑ SM Goodman: The enigma of antipredator behavior in lemurs: evidence of a large extinct eagle on Madagascar . In: International Journal of Primatology . tape 15 , no. 1 . Springer , 1994, p. 129-134 , doi : 10.1007 / BF02735238 .
  3. ^ A. Feduccia: The Origin and Evolution of Birds . 2nd Edition. Yale University Press, New Haven 1999, ISBN 0-300-07861-7 .
  4. ↑ L. Lavauden: Animaux disparus et legendaires de Madagascar. In: Revue Scientifique. 69, 1931, pp. 297-308.
  5. ^ R. Decary: La légende du Rokh et l'Aepyornis. In: Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, Nouvelle Série. 20, 1937, pp. 107-113.
  6. ^ C. Allibert: Le monde austronésien et la civilization du bambou; Une plume qui pèse lourd: l'oiseau Rokh des auteurs arabes. In: Taloha. 11, 1992, pp. 167-181.