New Species of Terror Bird Discovered in South America

Scientists have discovered a new species of South American fossil terror bird which may shed a bit of light on the diversity of the group and how these giant extinct predators interacted with their environment. The bird, which is the most complete terror bird ever discovered, may show a bit more about these massive creature.

The new species is called Llallawavis scagliai. The specimen reveals details of anatomy that are rarely preserved in the fossil record, including the auditory region of the skull, voice box, complete trachea, bones for focusing the eye, and the complete palate.

"The mean hearing estimated for this terror bird was below the average for living birds," said Frederico Degrange, lead author of the new study, in a news release. "This seems to indicate that Llallawavis may have had a narrow, low vocalization frequency range, presumably used for intraspecific acoustic communication or prey detection."

Terror birds were carnivorous, flightless birds that grew up to 10 feet in height with tall, hooked beaks. They were the predominant predators during the Cenozoic Age in South America. The new species stood at about four feet tall and lived in Argentina about 3.5 million years ago in the Pliocene Epoch, toward the end of the reign of the group.

"The discovery of this species reveals that terror birds were more diverse in the Pliocene than previously thought," said Degrange. "It will allow us to review the hypothesis about the decline and extinction of this fascinating group of birds."

The findings are published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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