These two species form the sister group to extant crown-group galliforms. Sylviornis neocaledoniae is found to be a stem galliform, distant from megapodiids, and the sister taxon to the extinct flightless Megavitiornis altirostris from Fiji, which we transfer to the family Sylviornithidae. neocaledo-niae based on ~600 fossils and use data from this and its cranial anatomy to make a comprehensive assessment of its phylogenetic affinities. We rectify this deficiency and describe the postcranial skeleton of S. However, despite thousands of bones having been reported for this unique and enigmatic taxon, the postcranial anatomy has remained largely unknown. The species was generally considered to be a megapode (Megapodiidae) until the family Sylviornithidae was erected for it in 2005 to reflect multiple cranial autapomorphies. The giant flightless bird Sylviornis neocaledoniae (Aves: Sylviornithidae) existed on La Grande Terre and Ile des Pins, New Caledonia, until the late Holocene when it went extinct shortly after human arrival on these islands. Alcediniformes, Coraciiformes) are less abundant and aerial insectivores (Apodiformes) very scarce, which either indicates a taphonomic bias in the composition of the avifauna or particular paleoenvironmental characteristics of the nearshore habitats in that area of the southern North Sea Basin. Arboreal birds (Halcyornithidae, Leptosomi-formes, cf. Prophaethontidae) and is dominated by remains of terrestrial species (Galliformes, Messelornithidae).
The bird assemblage from Egem includes relatively few seabirds (Odontopterygiformes, cf. The tentatively identified fossils of Accipitridae and Alcediniformes would represent the earliest fossil records of these clades. The comparatively well-represented small galliform species is clearly distinguished from the early Eocene Gallinuloididae and most closely resembles Argillipes aurorum, a largely ignored galliform species from the London Clay. The material also includes specimens that further knowledge of the composition of early Eocene avifaunas of the North Sea Basin. The three-dimensionally preserved fossils from Egem provide new data on the osteology of taxa that are otherwise mainly known from compression fossils with crushed bones. Further specimens are tentatively referred to the phaethon-tiform Prophaethontidae and to the Accipitridae, Masillaraptoridae, and Alcediniformes. Well-identifiable specimens are assigned to the Odontopterygiformes, Gal-liformes, Messelornithidae, Apodiformes, Halcyornithidae, Leptosomiformes (cf. The fossils belong to at least 20 species in more than 11 higher-level taxa. We describe an assemblage of 54 avian bones from early Eocene marine sediments of the Ampe quarry near Egem in Belgium. sylvestris they may represent distinct species or smaller individuals of the new taxon. Additional accipitrid fossils from the Namba Formation, a distal femur and a distal humerus, are incomparable with the holotype of A. Relatively short wings similar to species of Spizaetus and Spilornis suggest it was adapted for flight within enclosed forests. Comprehensive morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses resolved Archaehierax as a basal accipitrid, not closely related to any living subfamily and perhaps the sister taxon to all other accipitrids exclusive of elanines. nov., represents a raptor that was larger than the blackbreasted buzzard Hamirostra melanosternon but smaller and more gracile than the wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax. The fossil, described as Archaehierax sylvestris gen. It is derived from the Pinpa Local Fauna from the Namba Formation at Lake Pinpa, South Australia (~26-24 Ma). The recent discovery of an older and considerably more complete accipitrid from late Oligocene sediments in Australia is therefore significant. Globally, most fossil accipitrids are based on single bones. The Australian pre-Pleistocene fossil record of Accipitridae (eagles, hawks, old-world vultures) comprises one latest Oligocene or early Miocene and one middle Miocene species, each represented by partial bones.
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