New records of Pleistocene birds of prey from Ecuador

Abstract

The fossil record of New World vultures (Cathartidae) and hawks (Accipitridae) in South America is extensive but still remains patchy, with relatively few records coming from northern South America. The aim of the present contribution is to describe new records of birds of prey from Late Pleistocene beds of the La Carolina tar seeps (Santa Elena Province) at the southern coast of Ecuador and from the Cangagua Formation (Chimborazo Province) in the central region of the Ecuadorian Andes. The new fossils include the first Ecuadorian record of the extinct Buteogallus hibbardi, the presence of a very large and probably new eagle, a new species of the genus Buteo and a new genus and species of condor. The new Buteo is represented by a nearly complete hindlimb of a medium-sized species showing several features reminiscent of the long-legged Buteogallus. The new condor is represented by an isolated quadrate medium-sized that shows a unique combination of characters that distinguish it from the extant Vultur, Gymnogyps, and Sarcoramphus, as well as from the extinct Geronogyps. It was similar in size to extant Sarcoramphus, and indicates that the diversity of the condor lineage in the Pleistocene of South America is far from being well known.