Andalgalornis

Taxobox
name = "Andalgalornis"


fossil_range = Late Miocene - Early Pliocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Gruiformes
familia = Phorusrhacidae
genus = "Andalgalornis"
genus_authority = Patterson & Kraglievich, 1960
species = "A. steulleti"
binomial = "Andalgalornis steulleti"
binomial_authority = (Kraglievich, 1931)
synonyms =
* "Phororhacos steulleti" Kraglievich, 1931
* "Phororhacos deautieri" Kraglievich, 1931
* "Andalgalornis ferox" Patterson & Kraglievich, 1960
* "Phorohacos deautieri" Kraglievich, 1931

"Andalgalornis steulleti" was a species of giant flightless predatory birds of the family Phorusrhacidae or "terror birds" that lived in Argentina.

It is known from an incomplete skeleton and some single bones found in the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene Andalgala Formation of sites in the Entre Ríos and Catamarca Provinces of NE and NW Argentina.(Chiquimil) Provinces.

The birds stood around one and a half meters tall. The subfamily to which the genus belonged, the Patagornithinae, contained species that were of quite slender build; it looked much like a more elegant and smaller "Phorusrhacos", but had a proportionally higher beak, the most massive in regards to the overall size of the bird of all phorusrhacids.

References

* Alvarenga, Herculano M. F. & Höfling, Elizabeth (2003): Systematic revision of the Phorusrhacidae (Aves: Ralliformes). "Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia" 43(4): 55-91 [http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_pdf&pid=S0031-10492003000400001&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en PDF fulltext]
* Kraglievich, Lucas (1931): Contribución al conocimiento de las aves fósiles de la época araucoentrerriana. "Physis" 10: 304-315. [Article in Spanish]
* Patterson, B. & Kraglievich, Lucas (1960): Sistemática y nomenclatura de las aves fororracoideas del Plioceno Argentino. "Publicacion del Museo Municipal Ciencias Naturales y Tradicionales de Mar del Plata" 1: 1-51. [Article in Spanish]