Phorusrhacos
Sign in to saveAlso known as terror birds
Phorusrhacos ( ) is an extinct genus of giant flightless terror birds that inhabited South America during the Miocene epoch. Phorusrhacos was one of the dominant land predators in South America at the time it existed. It is thought to have lived in woodlands and grasslands.
Wikidata facts
- Mass
- 190
- Image
- PhorusrhacosLongissimus-Skull-BackgroundKnockedOut-ROM-Dec29-07.png
- Height
- 2.4
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Phorusrhacos
- taxon name
- Phorusrhacos
- start time
- 20000000-0
- end time
- 13000000-0
- taxon common name
- terror bird
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Article
4 sectionsContents
- Discovery and naming
- Description
- Classification
- References
Phorusrhacos ( ) is an extinct genus of giant flightless terror birds that inhabited South America during the Miocene epoch. Phorusrhacos was one of the dominant land predators in South America at the time it existed. It is thought to have lived in woodlands and grasslands.
== Discovery and naming == Remains are known from several localities in the Santa Cruz Formation and Monte León Formation in Santa Cruz Province, of Argentina. Among the bones found in the strata of the Santa Cruz Formations (now considered as mainly of mid-Miocene date) was the piece of a mandible which Florentino Ameghino discovered in early 1887 and the same year at first described as that of an edentate mammal which he named Phorusrhacos longissimus.