Aepyornis medius (Greater Elephant-Bird)

[RSN]

Aepyornis medius
Milne-Edwards & Grandidier 1866
Quaternary of Madagascar
Primary materials: Femur, tarsometatarsus, cranium, mandibula, coraco-scapula, humerus, tibiotarsus, pelvis

home.planet.nl/~by000012/SM/Fossil/FossilAepyorn.htm

[sebastian]

Hi! What´s the diferent whit A. maximus?

[Melanie]

It was smaller then A. maximus.

[RSN]

Probably in medium size, as the name suggests.

[cryptodude100]

How much smaller?

[sordes]

I suppose there could be very easily too much described Aepyornis-species, because the bones of subadult specimens could look like those of a different species.

[Deleted]

sordes said:

I suppose there could be very easily too much described Aepyornis-species, because the bones of subadult specimens could look like those of a different species.

Yes, I agree, exactly like the Moa species, these malagasy birds may represent much lesser species.

[another specialist]

Extinct birds : an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times : that is, within the last six or seven hundred years : to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction (1907)

[another specialist]

Aepyornis medius Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1866
=Aepyornis grandidieri Rowley, 1867
=Aepyornis cursor Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1894
=Aepyornis lentus Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1894

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aepyornis

[another specialist]

Extinct birds : an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times : that is, within the last six or seven hundred years : to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction (1907)

[another specialist]

Extinct birds : an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times : that is, within the last six or seven hundred years : to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction (1907)

[another specialist]

Extinct birds : an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times : that is, within the last six or seven hundred years : to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction (1907)

[Peter]

Up to eight species of elephant birds have been listed in the past. But when consideration is yaken that size differences can be explained by sexual dimorphism and temporal variation, qualiative differenes support only three distinct species. These are two Aepyornis species: Aepyornis maximus (includes A. medius as its smaller sex) and A. hildebrandti (includes A. gracilis). The third species is the more gracile Mullornis agilis (includes M. betsilei and M. rudis, named on unusually small specimens, and M. grandis a larger Pleistocene variant). As here defined, the size range of these elephant birds is less than that of some of the moa species, where much larger samples and well-dated specimens are available.

Source: Worthy, T.H. (2009). Fossil Birds. In: Gillespie, R., Clague, D. (Eds.) (2009). Encyclopedia of Islands. Encyclopedias of the Natural World, No. 2. University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520256491.

[surroundx]

Now considered invalid:

Hansford, James P. and Turvey, Samuel T. (2018). Unexpected diversity within the extinct elephant birds (Aves: Aepyornithidae) and a new identity for the world's largest bird. R. Soc. open sci. 5: 181295.