Aquila bullockensis
Name: Aquila
bullockensis
(Eagle from Bullock Creek).
Phonetic: Ah-kwil-ah bul-lock-en-sis.
Named By: P. Gaff & W. E. Boles -
2010.
Classification: Chordata, Aves,
Accipitriformes, Accipitridae, Buteoninae, Aquila.
Species: A. bullockensis.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Unknown.
Known locations: Australia, Northen Territory.
Time period: Serravallian of the Miocene.
Fossil representation: QVM:2000:GFV:154 - Distel
end of a humerus (upper arm bone).
A.
bullockensis is an extinct species of the Aquila
genus, the same
genus that includes all living eagle species. Although only known by
the distel end of a humerus, the shape of this is an almost identical
match for the Aquila genus. This means that A.
bullockensis was in
all likelihood an eagle, but the real exciting discovery concerning
this bone is that at the time of its description, it probably
represents the eagle species not only in Australia, but the entire
world.
The
bone of A. bullockensis has been identified as
being most similar to
the modern extant (still alive) species A. audax
(Wedge-tailed
Eagle), A. chrysaetos (Golden Eagle) and
A. fasciata
(Bonnelli’s eagle). Out of this A. audax is
of particular
interest since A. bullockensis has been
speculated to have possibly
been ancestral to this species due to its earlier appearance.
Further reading
- A New Eagle (Aves: Accipitridae) from the Mid Miocene Bullock
Creek Fauna of Northern Australia, P. Gaff & W. E.
Boles - 2010.
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