1988/07/01 by Steven D. Emslie · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Archaeology #Biology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Extinction (optical mineralogy) #Fossil Record #Genus #Geography #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Old World #Paleontology #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Pleistocene #Vulture #Zoology
paper · doi:10.1093/auk/105.3.529
openalex publication_date 1988/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract A new genus and species of condor-like vulture (Ciconiiformes: Vulturidae) is described from the middle Miocene (Barstovian) of North America and is the earliest condor now known in the New World. The fossil record at present indicates that the Vulturidae originated in the Old World, but diversified in the New World. Large body size in vultures developed in North America at least 4 million years (Ma) earlier than thought previously, and the condors probably evolved in North America. Condors were most diverse in the late Pleistocene but are now near extinction.