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Academic & Professional Books  Palaeontology  Palaeozoology & Extinctions

Magnificent Mihirungs The Colossal Flightless Birds of the Australian Dreamtime

By: Peter F Murray(Author), Patricia Vickers-Rich(Author)
416 pages, 248 b/w photos
Magnificent Mihirungs
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  • Magnificent Mihirungs ISBN: 9780253342829 Hardback Mar 2004 Not in stock: Usually dispatched within 6 days
    £39.00
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Price: £39.00
About this book Contents Customer reviews Biography Related titles

About this book

Over millions of years, Australia's unique biodiversity has produced a large cabinet of curiosities. Among the weirder members of this group were the Mihirungs, members of the now extinct family Dromornithidae. Made up of several genera of flightless birds – among them one of the very largest birds that ever lived – the dromornithids ranged from 60-kilogram beasts, 1.5 meters tall, to giants twice that size, weighing nearly half a metric ton. They were, by orders of magnitude, the largest "geese" that ever lived. One species was comparable in size to the Elephantbird of Madagascar and the Giant Moa of New Zealand. Magnificent Mihirungs is the first major study of this unique and highly diverse group. It aims to present as complete a synthesis as possible of current information about this fascinating family of birds.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introductioin

I. Discovery
1. The Discovery of the Dromornithids

II. Systematics and Morphology
2. Mihirungs: Extinct, Gigantic Australian Geese
3. Classification
4. Overview of Dromornithid Species, Localities, and Associated Fauna
5. Description of Dromornithid Structure
6. Relationships and Phylogeny
7. Dromornithids and the Origin of Anseriform Birds
8. Relationships within the Dromornithidae

III. Paleobiology
9. Appearance, Posture, and Stature
10. Body Mass Estimations
11. Could Dromornithids Run?
12. The Feeding Apparatus
13. The Economy of Scale

IV. Paleoecology
14. Evidence from Local Faunas
15. Habitat and Diet
16. Evolution

Conclusion
Appendix: Basic Avian Skeletal Morphology
Glossary
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Peter F. Murray is a researcher at the Museum of Central Australia in Alice Springs.

Patricia Vickers-Rich holds a Chair in Palaeontology at Monash University, where she lectures in the Earth Sciences Department. She is co-author (with Thomas H. Rich) of Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (IUP, 2000) and Dinosaurs of Darkness (IUP, 2000).

By: Peter F Murray(Author), Patricia Vickers-Rich(Author)
416 pages, 248 b/w photos
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