A new eagle (Aves: Accipitridae) from the Mid Miocene Bullock Creek Fauna of northern Australia. In Proceedings of the VII International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, ed. W.E. Boles and T.H. Worthy

Abstract

A large accipitrine bird of prey is described from the Mid Miocene Camfield Beds, Bullock Creek, Northern Territory, Australia, based on a distal humeral fragment. Comparisons with the larger living Australian eagles show that this bird belongs in Aquila rather than Haliaeetus. It can be differentiated from living species of Aquila by morphology and size, and is here named as a new fossil species. This specimen comprises the oldest record of this genus in Australia, and possibly the oldest in the world.