Notas sobre el registro de Accipitridae (Aves, Accipitriformes) fósiles argentinos

Abstract

In this note the fossil record of the Argentinian Accipitridae is reviewed. The living genus Geranoaetus ir reported from the Upper Miocene of Catamarca province, constituting the oldest record for the genus in South America. The living species G. melanoleucus is reported for the first time in the Pleistocene of Argentina. The extinct Miocene genus Thegornis is here considered to be monotypic, being composed only by the species T. debilis. The other species originally included within that taxon is here removed to the living genus Buteo, as B. musculosus. The Mid-Oligocene Patagonian genera Cruschedula and Climacarthrus are considered as valid genera of the subfamilies Buteoninae and Accipitrinae, respectively. A large and isolated Accipitrid pedal ungual phalanx is reported from the Lower-Mid Eocene of Chubut province, constituting the oldest accipitrid record of South America. Additionaly, several fragmentary pedal remains are reported from different Miocene Patagonian localities, suggesting that Accipitrids were present, and were probably abundant in South America since Lower Eocene times.