Malagasy crowned eagle
| Malagasy crowned eagle Temporal range: Holocene
| |
|---|---|
Extinct (1500)
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Stephanoaetus |
| Species: | †S. mahery
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Stephanoaetus mahery Goodman, 1994
| |
The Malagasy crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus mahery),endemic to Madagascar.
It has been proposed that this bird, combined with elephant bird eggs, were the source of sightings of the mythical Roc.[2]
Description
It may have been comparable in average size to the related African crowned eagle, but possibly slightly larger, with the largest female weights estimated at up to 7 kg (15 lb), or about the size of a large female golden eagle.[3]
Ecology
It probably fed on
Aquila) eagle; extant Malagasy raptors appear to be a threat primarily to juvenile members of the large diurnal lemur species.[3][4]
It was perhaps an
See also
- Haast's eagle, another large island eagle species that became extinct after the arrival of humans
References
- ^ Goodman, Steven M. (1994). "Description of a new species of subfossil eagle from Madagascar: Stephanoaetus (Aves: Falconiformes) from the deposits of Ampasambazimba". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (107): 421–428.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-5725-1.
- ^ JSTOR 4535540.
- S2CID 6129168.
- ISBN 0-300-07861-7.