Aquila bullockensis facts for kids

Aquila bullockensis was a type of large true eagle that is now extinct. This ancient eagle lived about 12 million years ago during the Middle Miocene period. It is related to the wedge-tailed eagle we see today in Australia. Scientists think A. bullockensis might even be an ancestor of the modern wedge-tailed eagle.

We only know about Aquila bullockensis from one fossil. This fossil is the lower part of a right humerus, which is an upper arm bone. It was found in the Bullock Creek area of Australia. This discovery is very important because it is the oldest confirmed record of the Aquila eagle group in Australia, and possibly in the whole world!

Discovering a Prehistoric Eagle

The only fossil of Aquila bullockensis is a single piece of bone. It is the lower end of a right humerus, or upper arm bone. This special fossil is kept safe at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania.

Where the Fossil Was Found

The bone was discovered at Bullock Creek in Australia. This area is about 550 kilometers (340 miles) south-southeast of Darwin, Northern Territory. The rocks there are part of what scientists call the Camfield Fossil Beds.

Naming the New Species

Researchers from Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria first studied the bone. Priscilla Gaff led this research as part of her master's degree. In 2010, Gaff and Walter E. Boles officially described the new species. They published their findings in a science journal called Records of the Australian Museum. They named the species "bullockensis" to honor the place where it was found. The word ensis in Latin means "belonging to." So, Aquila bullockensis means "eagle belonging to Bullock Creek."

What Aquila bullockensis Looked Like

Scientists can learn a lot about an animal from just one bone! By studying the humerus, they could tell that Aquila bullockensis was a large bird.

Unique Bone Features

The bone from Aquila bullockensis has special features that set it apart. For example, it has a shallow fossa m. brachialis and a more rounded processus flexorius. These are scientific terms for specific parts of the bone. These features helped scientists know it was not an Osprey or other types of buzzards.

The fossil bone is very similar to bones from other eagles in the Hieraaetus and Aquila groups. It looks most like the modern wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) and the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). However, it has enough differences to be considered its own unique species. For example, a part of the fossil bone called the tuberculum supracondylare ventrale is flat, which is different from modern eagles.

Size of the Ancient Eagle

The lower end of the humerus bone is 27.7 millimeters (1.09 inches) wide. Even though the rest of the bone is missing, scientists could tell that the shaft (the main part of the bone) was curved.

Aquila bullockensis was smaller than today's wedge-tailed eagles and golden eagles. But it was larger than another eagle species called Aquila fasciata.

Oldest Eagle of its Kind

Aquila bullockensis is one of the oldest known eagles in the Aquila group. Two other very old eagle species, A. delphinensis and A. pennatoides, were found in France. They also lived around the same time, in the Middle to Late Miocene period.

Scientists have found other bird bones at Bullock Creek. Some of these might also belong to Aquila bullockensis, but they haven't been studied closely yet.

See also

In Spanish: Aquila bullockensis para niños