Cygnus falconeri
| Giant swan Temporal range:
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| Reconstruction of Cygnus falconeri and the Sicilian-Maltese dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon falconeri and a human for scale | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Family: | Anatidae |
| Genus: | Cygnus |
| Species: | C. falconeri
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| Binomial name | |
| Cygnus falconeri | |
Cygnus falconeri is an extinct species of very large swan known from Middle Pleistocene-aged deposits from Malta and Sicily. Its dimensions are described as exceeding those of the living mute swan by one-third,[2] which would give a bill-to-tail length of about 190–210 cm (75–83 in) (based on 145–160 cm for C. olor[3]). By comparison to the bones of living swans, it can be estimated that it weighed around 16 kg (35 lb) and had a wingspan of about 3 m (9.8 ft).[4][5][6] Due to its size, it may have been flightless.[7]
Its remains on Malta are associated with dwarf elephants (the smaller Palaeoloxodon falconeri and the larger Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis), giant dormice (Leithia, including the largest dormouse ever, the rabbit-sized L. melitensis and the smaller L. cartei and Maltamys gollcheri), the giant tortoise Solitudo robusta and other birds, including raptors and members of the crane genus Grus.[8] On Sicily, its remains are associated with the "Elephas mnaidriensis" faunal complex, including carnivores like cave hyenas, cave lions, grey wolves and brown bears, and herbivores like the large dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon cf. mnaidriensis, wild boar, red deer, fallow deer, aurochs, steppe bison and the hippo Hippopotamus pentlandi,[9] alongside numerous other bird species, most of which are still living.[10]
Some remains of the species are displayed Għar Dalam museum in Birżebbuġa, Malta.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ Parker, W. K. (1865). "Preliminary notes on some fossil birds from the Zebbug Cave, Malta". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1865: 752–753 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ Heilprin, Angelo (1974). The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals (reprint ed.). New York: Ayer Publishing. p. 333. ISBN 0-405-05742-3.
- ^ Snow, D. W.; Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic (Concise ed.). OUP. ISBN 0-19-854099-X..
- ^ Northcote, E. M. (2008). "Size, Form and Habit of the Extinct Maltese Swan Cygnus falconeri". Ibis. 124 (2): 148–158. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1982.tb03753.x.
- ^ Watanabe, J.; Matsuoka, H. (2015). "Flightless diving duck (Aves, Anatidae) from the Pleistocene of Shiriya, northeast Japan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 35 (6) e994745. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.994745.
- ^ Watanabe, J. (2017). "Quantitative discrimination of flightlessness in fossil Anatidae from skeletal proportions". The Auk. 134 (3): 672–695. doi:10.1642/auk-17-23.1. hdl:2433/227150.
- ^ Antoni, Josep (May 30, 2000). "Vertebrate Evolution and Extinction on Western and Central Mediterranean Islands". Tropics (10): 103–123. Archived from the original on 2006-04-18.
- ^ C. Savona-Ventura, A. Mifsud "A review of the Pleistocene deposits in the southwestern coast of Malta" Xjenza, 4 (2) (1999), pp. 10-17
- ^ Bonfiglio, L., Marra, A. C., Masini, F., Pavia, M., & Petruso, D. (2002). Pleistocene faunas of Sicily: a review. In W. H. Waldren, & J. A. Ensenyat (Eds.), World islands in prehistory: international insular investigations. British Archaeological Reports, International Series, 1095, 428–436.
- ^ Pavia, M. The Middle Pleistocene Fossil Avifauna from the “Elephas mnaidriensis Faunal Complex” of Sicily (Italy). Preliminary Results. In The World of Elephants—International Congress, Proceedings of the First International Congress, Rome, Italy, 16–20 October 2001; pp. 497–501.
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