Re: HERBIVORES HAVE HALLUX TOO..

[Adam Yates <zooamy@zoo.latrobe.edu.au>]

On Mon, 27 Nov 1995, D.W.Naish wrote:

> 
> > An opposable foot can be
> > used to subdue small reptiles or even extract them from burrows (as the
> > living Harrier-hawks of Africa and Crane-hawk of the New World Tropics do
> > very efficiently).
> 
> A ?Pliocene Aussie raptor (ornithological sense) that could do this was 
> reported
> recently, but I'm unaware of any technical lit. Can anyone help?
> 

The raptor in question is Pengana robertbolesi, an accipitrid from the 
Oligo-Miocene limestones of Riversleigh. Apparently it's harrier - hawk 
like morphology was developed convergently. The ref. is

Boles, W. E., 1993. Pengana robertbolesi, a peculiar bird of prey from 
the Tertiary of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, Australia. 
Alcheringa 17, 19-26.

Adam Yates.