First giant bony-toothed bird (Pelagornithidae) from Australia

Abstract

The Pelagornithidae, or ‘giant bony-toothed birds,’ are enigmatic extinct seabirds with a long history spanning the late Paleocene–late Pliocene (Harrison, 1985; Mourer-Chauvir´e and Geraads, 2008, 2010; Bourdon, 2011). In parallel with their extensive chronostratigraphic distribution, pelagornithids have thus far been recorded from all continents with the notable exception of Australia (Mayr, 2011; contra Boessenecker and Smith, 2011). Here we document the first evidence of Pelagornithidae in Australia: a diagnostic Pelagornis tibiotarsus and non-associated fragmentary appendicular elements from the Mio–Pliocene of Beaumaris, Victoria (Fig. 1). This discovery confirms the distribution of pelagornithids on every continent and the global distribution of the genus Pelagornis during the late Neogene.