An Early Condor-Like Vulture from North America

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.