Ancient DNA provides new insights into the evolutionary history of New Zealand's extinct Giant Eagle

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dc.contributor.authorBunce, M.
dc.contributor.authorSzulkin, M.
dc.contributor.authorLerner, R.
dc.contributor.authorBarnes, I.
dc.contributor.authorShapiro, B.
dc.contributor.authorCooper, A.
dc.contributor.authorHoldaway, R.
dc.contributor.editorPenny, D.
dc.date.issued2005
dc.description.abstractPrior to human settlement 700 years ago New Zealand had no terrestrial mammals—apart from three species of bats—instead, approximately 250 avian species dominated the ecosystem. At the top of the food chain was the extinct Haast's eagle, Harpagornis moorei. H. moorei (10–15 kg; 2–3 m wingspan) was 30%–40% heavier than the largest extant eagle (the harpy eagle, Harpia harpyja), and hunted moa up to 15 times its weight. In a dramatic example of morphological plasticity and rapid size increase, we show that the H. moorei was very closely related to one of the world's smallest extant eagles, which is one-tenth its mass. This spectacular evolutionary change illustrates the potential speed of size alteration within lineages of vertebrates, especially in island ecosystems.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityMichael Bunce, Marta Szulkin, Heather R. L. Lerner, Ian Barnes, Beth Shapiro, Alan Cooper, Richard N. Holdaway
dc.identifier.citationPLoS Biology, 2005; 3(1):1-10
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pbio.0030009
dc.identifier.issn1544-9173
dc.identifier.issn1545-7885
dc.identifier.orcidCooper, A. [0000-0002-7738-7851]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/37001
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherPublic Library of Science
dc.rightsCopyright: © 2005 Bunce et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0030009
dc.subjectAnimals
dc.subjectEagles
dc.subjectDNA
dc.subjectBody Size
dc.subjectEcosystem
dc.subjectEvolution, Molecular
dc.subjectPaleontology
dc.subjectFossils
dc.subjectMolecular Sequence Data
dc.subjectNew Zealand
dc.titleAncient DNA provides new insights into the evolutionary history of New Zealand's extinct Giant Eagle
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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