Late Quaternary prehistoric birds are
aviantaxa that became
extinct during the Late
Quaternary – the
Late Pleistocene or Early
Holocene – and before
recorded history, specifically before they could be studied alive by
ornithological science. They had died out before the period of global scientific exploration that started in the late 15th century. In other words, this list deals with avian extinctions between
40,000 BC and AD 1500. For the purposes of this article, a "
bird" is any member of the
cladeNeornithes, that is, any descendant of the
most recent common ancestor of all currently living birds.
The birds are known from their remains, which are
subfossil; as the remains are not completely fossilized, they may yield organic material for molecular analyses to provide additional clues for resolving their
taxonomic affiliations. Some birds are also known from
folk memory, as in the case of
Haast's eagle in New Zealand.
The extinction of the taxa in this list was coincident with the expansion of Homo sapiens beyond Africa and Eurasia, and in most cases,
anthropogenic factors played a crucial part in their extinction, be it through hunting, introduced
predators or
habitat alteration. It is notable that a large proportion of the species are from oceanic islands, especially in
Polynesia. Bird taxa that evolved on oceanic islands are usually very vulnerable to hunting or predation by rats, dogs, cats or pigs (animals commonly introduced by humans) as they evolved in the absence of
mammalian predators, and therefore have only rudimentary predator avoidance behavior. Many, especially
rails, have additionally become
flightless for the same reason and thus present even easier prey.
Taxon extinctions taking place before the Late Quaternary happened in the absence of significant human interference. Rather, reasons for extinction are random
abiotic events such as
bolide impacts,
climate changes, mass volcanic eruptions, etc. Alternatively, species may have become extinct due to
evolutionary displacement by successor or competitor taxa – it is notable for example that in the early
Neogene, seabird
biodiversity was much higher than today; this is probably due to competition by the radiation of
marine mammals after that time. The relationships of these ancient birds are often hard to determine, as many are known only from very fragmentary remains and complete fossilization precludes analysis of information from
DNA,
RNA or protein sequencing.
Extinct bird species differed from extant birds by being larger, mostly restricted to islands, and often flightless. These factors made them especially vulnerable to human prosecution and to other anthropogenically related declines.[1]
Taxonomic list of Late Quaternary prehistoric birds
Giant elephant bird, Aepyornis maximus - A 2018 study moved the largest elephant bird specimens to the genus Vorombe,[4] but a 2023 genetic study regarded Vorombe as synonymous with Aepyornis maximus.[5]
Saint Helena dove, Dysmoropelia dekarchiskos (Saint Helena, South Atlantic) – known from Late Pleistocene bones, but may have persisted until the 16th century
Bermuda flicker, Colaptes oceanicus (Bermuda, West Atlantic) – known from Late Pleistocene and Holocene bones, but may have persisted until the 17th century[24]
Puerto Rican barn owl, Tyto cavatica (Puerto Rico, West Indies) – may still have existed up to 1912; likely a subspecies of, or synonymous with, the extant
ashy-faced owl (Tyto glaucops)[26]
Puerto Rican crow, Corvus pumilis (Puerto Rico and St. Croix, West Indies) – probably a subspecies of either the
Cuban crow (Corvus nasicus) or the
palm crow (Corvus palmarum)
^Miller, G. H.; Magee, J. W.; Johnson, B. J.; Fogel, M. L.; Spooner, N. A.; McCulloch, M. T.; Ayliffe, L. K. (1999-01-08). "Pleistocene Extinction of Genyornis newtoni: Human Impact on Australian Megafauna". Science. 283 (5399): 205–208.
doi:
10.1126/science.283.5399.205.
PMID9880249.
^Emsile, Steven D. (1985). ”A New Species of Teal from the Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) of Wyoming”
https://sora.unm.edu/node/24087
^Mitchell, Kieren J.; Wood, Jamie R.; Scofield, R. Paul; Llamas, Bastien; Cooper, Alan (2014). "Ancient mitochondrial genome reveals unsuspected taxonomic affinity of the extinct Chatham duck (Pachyanas chathamica) and resolves divergence times for New Zealand and sub-Antarctic brown teals". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 70: 420–428.
doi:
10.1016/j.ympev.2013.08.017.
PMID23994164.
^van Tets, G.F. (1994). "An extinct new species of cormorant (Phalacrocoracidae, Aves) from a Western Australian peat swamp". Records of the South Australian Museum. 27 (2): 135–138.
^Hailer, F., James, H.F., Olson, S.L., & Fleischer, R.C. (2015). Distinct and extinct: genetic differentiation of the Hawaiian eagle. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 83, 40-43
^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.
^Steadman, David W. (8 July 2002). "A new species of swiftlet (Aves: Apodidae) from the late Quaternary of Mangaia, Cook Islands, Oceania". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 22 (2): 326–331.
doi:
10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0326:ANSOSA]2.0.CO;2.
S2CID84817651.
^Olson, Storrs L. (2013). "Fossil woodpeckers from Bermuda with the description of a new species of Colaptes (Aves: Picidae)". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 126 (#1): 17–24.
doi:
10.2988/0006-324X-126.1.17.
S2CID84248107.
^Goodman, Steven M. (2000). "A description of a new species of Brachypteracias (Family Brachypteraciidae) from the Holocene of Madagascar". Ostrich. 71 (1–2): 318–322.
doi:
10.1080/00306525.2000.9639941.
S2CID83685435.
^
abSuárez, William; Olson, Storrs L. (2020). "Systematics and distribution of the living and fossil small barn owls of the West Indies (Aves: Strigiformes: Tytonidae)". Zootaxa. 4830 (3): 544–564.
doi:
10.11646/zootaxa.4830.3.4.
PMID33056145.
S2CID222819958.
^Millener, P. R. (December 1988). "Contributions to New Zealand's Late Quaternary avifauna. 1: Pachyplichas, a new genus of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae), with two new species". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 18 (4): 383–406.
doi:
10.1080/03036758.1988.10426464.
^Millener, P. R.; Worthy, T.H. (1991). "Contributions to New Zealand's late Quaternary avifauna. II. Dendroscansor decurvirostris, a new genus and species of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 21: 179–200.
doi:
10.1080/03036758.1991.10431406.
^Rando, J.C; Pieper, H.; Olson, Storrs L.; Pereira, F.; Alcover, J.A. (2017-06-27). "A new extinct species of large bullfinch (Aves: Fringillidae: Pyrrhula ) from Graciosa Island (Azores, North Atlantic Ocean)". Zootaxa. 4282 (3): 567.
doi:
10.11646/zootaxa.4282.3.9.
ISSN1175-5334.
Goodman, S.M. and Patterson, B.D. (1997) Natural Change and Human Impact in Madagascar. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London. 432 S.
ISBN978-1-56098-683-6
del Hoyo, J., Andrew Elliott, David Christie (2007) Handbook of the Birds of the World Volume 12 Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees, Lynx Edicions, 2007.
ISBN84-96553-42-6
Late Quaternary prehistoric birds are
aviantaxa that became
extinct during the Late
Quaternary – the
Late Pleistocene or Early
Holocene – and before
recorded history, specifically before they could be studied alive by
ornithological science. They had died out before the period of global scientific exploration that started in the late 15th century. In other words, this list deals with avian extinctions between
40,000 BC and AD 1500. For the purposes of this article, a "
bird" is any member of the
cladeNeornithes, that is, any descendant of the
most recent common ancestor of all currently living birds.
The birds are known from their remains, which are
subfossil; as the remains are not completely fossilized, they may yield organic material for molecular analyses to provide additional clues for resolving their
taxonomic affiliations. Some birds are also known from
folk memory, as in the case of
Haast's eagle in New Zealand.
The extinction of the taxa in this list was coincident with the expansion of Homo sapiens beyond Africa and Eurasia, and in most cases,
anthropogenic factors played a crucial part in their extinction, be it through hunting, introduced
predators or
habitat alteration. It is notable that a large proportion of the species are from oceanic islands, especially in
Polynesia. Bird taxa that evolved on oceanic islands are usually very vulnerable to hunting or predation by rats, dogs, cats or pigs (animals commonly introduced by humans) as they evolved in the absence of
mammalian predators, and therefore have only rudimentary predator avoidance behavior. Many, especially
rails, have additionally become
flightless for the same reason and thus present even easier prey.
Taxon extinctions taking place before the Late Quaternary happened in the absence of significant human interference. Rather, reasons for extinction are random
abiotic events such as
bolide impacts,
climate changes, mass volcanic eruptions, etc. Alternatively, species may have become extinct due to
evolutionary displacement by successor or competitor taxa – it is notable for example that in the early
Neogene, seabird
biodiversity was much higher than today; this is probably due to competition by the radiation of
marine mammals after that time. The relationships of these ancient birds are often hard to determine, as many are known only from very fragmentary remains and complete fossilization precludes analysis of information from
DNA,
RNA or protein sequencing.
Extinct bird species differed from extant birds by being larger, mostly restricted to islands, and often flightless. These factors made them especially vulnerable to human prosecution and to other anthropogenically related declines.[1]
Taxonomic list of Late Quaternary prehistoric birds
Giant elephant bird, Aepyornis maximus - A 2018 study moved the largest elephant bird specimens to the genus Vorombe,[4] but a 2023 genetic study regarded Vorombe as synonymous with Aepyornis maximus.[5]
Saint Helena dove, Dysmoropelia dekarchiskos (Saint Helena, South Atlantic) – known from Late Pleistocene bones, but may have persisted until the 16th century
Bermuda flicker, Colaptes oceanicus (Bermuda, West Atlantic) – known from Late Pleistocene and Holocene bones, but may have persisted until the 17th century[24]
Puerto Rican barn owl, Tyto cavatica (Puerto Rico, West Indies) – may still have existed up to 1912; likely a subspecies of, or synonymous with, the extant
ashy-faced owl (Tyto glaucops)[26]
Puerto Rican crow, Corvus pumilis (Puerto Rico and St. Croix, West Indies) – probably a subspecies of either the
Cuban crow (Corvus nasicus) or the
palm crow (Corvus palmarum)
^Miller, G. H.; Magee, J. W.; Johnson, B. J.; Fogel, M. L.; Spooner, N. A.; McCulloch, M. T.; Ayliffe, L. K. (1999-01-08). "Pleistocene Extinction of Genyornis newtoni: Human Impact on Australian Megafauna". Science. 283 (5399): 205–208.
doi:
10.1126/science.283.5399.205.
PMID9880249.
^Emsile, Steven D. (1985). ”A New Species of Teal from the Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) of Wyoming”
https://sora.unm.edu/node/24087
^Mitchell, Kieren J.; Wood, Jamie R.; Scofield, R. Paul; Llamas, Bastien; Cooper, Alan (2014). "Ancient mitochondrial genome reveals unsuspected taxonomic affinity of the extinct Chatham duck (Pachyanas chathamica) and resolves divergence times for New Zealand and sub-Antarctic brown teals". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 70: 420–428.
doi:
10.1016/j.ympev.2013.08.017.
PMID23994164.
^van Tets, G.F. (1994). "An extinct new species of cormorant (Phalacrocoracidae, Aves) from a Western Australian peat swamp". Records of the South Australian Museum. 27 (2): 135–138.
^Hailer, F., James, H.F., Olson, S.L., & Fleischer, R.C. (2015). Distinct and extinct: genetic differentiation of the Hawaiian eagle. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 83, 40-43
^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.
^Steadman, David W. (8 July 2002). "A new species of swiftlet (Aves: Apodidae) from the late Quaternary of Mangaia, Cook Islands, Oceania". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 22 (2): 326–331.
doi:
10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0326:ANSOSA]2.0.CO;2.
S2CID84817651.
^Olson, Storrs L. (2013). "Fossil woodpeckers from Bermuda with the description of a new species of Colaptes (Aves: Picidae)". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 126 (#1): 17–24.
doi:
10.2988/0006-324X-126.1.17.
S2CID84248107.
^Goodman, Steven M. (2000). "A description of a new species of Brachypteracias (Family Brachypteraciidae) from the Holocene of Madagascar". Ostrich. 71 (1–2): 318–322.
doi:
10.1080/00306525.2000.9639941.
S2CID83685435.
^
abSuárez, William; Olson, Storrs L. (2020). "Systematics and distribution of the living and fossil small barn owls of the West Indies (Aves: Strigiformes: Tytonidae)". Zootaxa. 4830 (3): 544–564.
doi:
10.11646/zootaxa.4830.3.4.
PMID33056145.
S2CID222819958.
^Millener, P. R. (December 1988). "Contributions to New Zealand's Late Quaternary avifauna. 1: Pachyplichas, a new genus of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae), with two new species". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 18 (4): 383–406.
doi:
10.1080/03036758.1988.10426464.
^Millener, P. R.; Worthy, T.H. (1991). "Contributions to New Zealand's late Quaternary avifauna. II. Dendroscansor decurvirostris, a new genus and species of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 21: 179–200.
doi:
10.1080/03036758.1991.10431406.
^Rando, J.C; Pieper, H.; Olson, Storrs L.; Pereira, F.; Alcover, J.A. (2017-06-27). "A new extinct species of large bullfinch (Aves: Fringillidae: Pyrrhula ) from Graciosa Island (Azores, North Atlantic Ocean)". Zootaxa. 4282 (3): 567.
doi:
10.11646/zootaxa.4282.3.9.
ISSN1175-5334.
Goodman, S.M. and Patterson, B.D. (1997) Natural Change and Human Impact in Madagascar. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London. 432 S.
ISBN978-1-56098-683-6
del Hoyo, J., Andrew Elliott, David Christie (2007) Handbook of the Birds of the World Volume 12 Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees, Lynx Edicions, 2007.
ISBN84-96553-42-6