Ancient Fossil Found in South Australia Is ‘Old World' Vulture, Not Grave Eagle, That Lived 50,000 Years Ago

For more than a century, paleontologists have believed that a fossil discovered in South Australia was a powerful grave eagle called Taphaetus lacertosus.

A new study now reveals the discovery's new taxonomy-a vulture, the first one found in the country, a ScienceAlert report specified.

Essentially, the fossil is that of a Cryptogyps lacertosus, which means "powerful hidden vulture," and this scavenging raptor would have existed between 500 and 50,000 years ago.

The fossil found was also called an "Old World" vulture, and akin species are still around, although not in Australia.

A Hawk or an Eagle?

The reclassification underscores just how diverse the megafauna, as well as other wildlife, were in this part of the world back during the Pleistocene period, which started approximately 2.5 million years back, and roughly 11,700 years back.

Paleontologist Ellen Mather from Flinders University in Australia said they compared the fossil material to birds of prey from all over the world, and it turned clear right away that this bird species was not adjusted to being a hunter and thus was not a hawk, neither an eagle.

The lower leg bone's features are extremely underdeveloped to support the musculature needed to kill prey.

Describing their work published in Zootaxa, Mather said when they placed Cryptogyps in an evolutionary tree, this validated their suspicions that the "bird was a vulture," and they are excited to finally "publish on this species."

C. Lacertosus

This story began in the early 1900s with the finding of the first part of the fossil; specifically, a piece of a wing bone discovered near the Kalamurina Homestead on the Warburton River in South Australia.

In just a few years, the fossil part was described as being from an extinct family of the wedge-tailed eagle. Furthermore, in recent years, researchers, including scientists behind this work, began questioning the classification of the fossil known identified as C. lacertosus. The study suggested that Old World vultures may have lived during the Pleistocene period in Australia and that this fossil discovered might be one of them.

According to a report from The Conversation via Yahoo! News, the new fossil discovery from the Wellington Caves in New South Wales and Leaena's Breath Cave in the Nullabor Plains of Western Australia helped the team in proving it.

Such vultures would have shared the skies with wedge-tailed eagles and looked down on some relatively large beasts, which include the marsupial herbivore Diprotodon, as well as the marsupial lion Thylocoleo, both currently extinct.

Vital Role Vultures Play

According to Trevor Worthy, a paleontologist from Flinders University, the finding solves a mystery of what took place to a lot of megafaunal carcasses when the continent did not have vultures. He added, "Now we know they were here," and that they have been concealed in plain sight.

Essentially, vultures are playing a vital role in fast-tracking carcass decay and reducing the spread of the disease, and now, there is nothing left in Australia.

The researchers have also suggested that the vultures' demise would have shaken up the ecological status quo, as other scavengers started to fill the same role, albeit in quite a different manner.

Related information about vultures is shown on 4 Ever Green's YouTube video below:

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