Cygnus falconeri (Maltese Swan)

[another specialist]

Oct 21, 2005 12:54:57 GMT Melanie said:

Well i'm not sure whether it is really the same species. Malta and Sicily were already separated islands 10,000 years ago but I could imagine that both species could have had the same ancestor.

A nice pic by the way.

What Bucardo states seems to be correct



www.cq.rm.cnr.it/elephants2001/pdf/497_501.pdf.

[another specialist]

May 25, 2006 17:24:24 GMT cryptodude100 said:

I've learned that cygnus falconeri was a huge flightless swan,one-fourth larger than cynus olor and had a wingspan of 9 feet. Is this true? Can anyone tell me more about the size of this bird?

The giant extinct Maltese Swan is shown in this work to have been a land-feeding bird, well adapted for walking but with little or no ability to fly. Fossils of the swan prepared during this study comprise the most representative remains in existence; the greater part of the foot skeleton and the frontal part of the cranium are described for the first time. By comparison of the bones with those of living swans I estimate that it probably resembled a scaled-up Whooper Swan weighing about 16 kg and with a wing span of about 3 m.

www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119556335/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

[Peter]

Summary
The giant extinct Maltese Swan is shown in this work to have been a land-feeding bird, well adapted for walking but with little or no ability to fly. Fossils of the swan prepared during this study comprise the most representative remains in existence; the greater part of the foot skeleton and the frontal part of the cranium are described for the first time. By comparison of the bones with those of living swans I estimate that it probably resembled a scaled-up Whooper Swan weighing about 16 kg and with a wing span of about 3 m.

NORTHCOTE, E. M. (1982), SIZE, FORM AND HABIT OF THE EXTINCT MALTESE SWAN CYGNUS FALCONERI. Ibis, 124: 148–158. doi: 10.1111/j.1474-919X.1982.tb03753.x

[Peter]

Scientific name Cygnus falconeri
Range Malta+Sicily
Last occurrence; Historical record -
Other estimate (see list in footnotes; see also Notes) 1, 5, Note 2
Reference Parker (1865, 1869); Northcote (1982b, 1992); Pavia (2000)
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Other estimates column: indirect last-occurrence date estimates (only listed for species known only from Pleistocene or undated Late Quaternary deposits).
1. First human arrival in region during Holocene (only noted if no other evidence exists for Holocene survival).
5. May have died out before the Holocene.
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Notes
2. This species probably became extinct on Sicily well before the end of the Pleistocene when Sicily became connected to the mainland; whether it survived into the Holocene on Malta is uncertain since none of the find sites are datable.
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Northcote EM (1982b) Size, form and habit of the extinct Maltese swan Cygnus falconeri. Ibis 124, 148–158.
Northcote EM (1992) Swans (Cygnus) and cranes (Grus) from the Maltese Pleistocene. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series 36, 285–292.
Parker WK (1865) Preliminary notes on some fossil birds from the Zebbug Cave, Malta. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1865, 752–753.
Parker WK (1869) On some fossil birds from the Zebbug Cave, Malta. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 6, 119–24.
Pavia M (2000) Le avifaune pleistoceniche dell’Italia meridionale. Tesi Università di Torino Scienze de la Terra, Torino.

Tyrberg, T. (2009). Holocene avian extinctions. In: Turvey, S.T. (editor) (2009). Holocene extinctions. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

[Peter]

Three taxa included by Milberg & Tyberg (1993), Neochen barbadiana from Barabados (Brodkorb 1967), Cygnus falconeri and Cygnus equitum from Malta (Northcote 1992) are omitted from this review as there is no evidence that they survived beyond the Pleistocene.

Young, H. G., S. J. Tonge, J. P. Hume. 1997. Review of Holocene wildfowl extinctions. Wildfowl 47: 166-180.