Phororhacos Fossil Bird Skull Replica

Description

Phororhacos fossil bird skull replica measures 14.1″L x 6.0″W x 4.0″H. Phororhacos fossil bird skull replica is museum-quality polyurethane resin cast of original specimen. 2-part skull (separate cranium and mandible). Made in USA.

Phororhacos or Phorusrhacos longissimus is an extinct genus of giant flightless terror birds that lived in Miocene Patagonia. Phororhacos or Phorusrhacos longissimus grew up to 8.2 ft. tall and weighed approximately 290 lbs.

They had large skulls, up to 24 in. long, armed with powerful, hook-tipped beaks. The structure of Phororhacos or Phorusrhacos longissimus beak and the large claws on the toes show that they were carnivorous.

Among the Phororhacos 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.

When the original derivation was no longer understood, other translations were given, such as the literal translation of “Rag-Thief”, and “branch-holder” from the mistaken assumption the name had been intended to be derived from a Greek rhakis, “branch”.

The specific means “very long” in Latin, again in reference to the lower jaws. The holotype is the mandible, specimen MLP-118 (Museo de La Plata). In 1889 Ameghino emended it to a more grammatically correct Phororhacos but the earlier name has priority.

In 1891, it was by him recognized to be a bird. Phororhacos remains are known from several localities in the Santa Cruz and Monte León Formations in the Santa Cruz Province, of Argentina.

Phororhacos had a skull nearly 26 in. long, stood nearly 7 ft 10 in to 8 ft 10 inches tall, and probably weighed nearly 290 lb. It had very strong legs, capable of running at high speed, stubby, flightless wings, a long neck, and a proportionately large head.

This ended in a huge, hooked beak that could tear through flesh easily, or stab into prey. The lower jaw was smaller than the upper jaw. There were three toes on each of the feet, all of which were armed with sharp claws.

Some remains of Phororhacos from Africa and Europe and the Paleocene of Brazil have been referred to this clade or identified as phylogenetically related to the extant South American seriemas, but these assignments remain controversial.

Scientific classification:

• Conservation Status: Extinct
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Cariamiformes
• Family: †Phorusrhacidae
• Subfamily: †Phorusrhacinae
• Genus: †Phorusrhacos
• Type species: †Phorusrhacos longissimus Ameghino, 1887

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