Cygnus falconeri is an extinct, very large swan known from Middle Pleistocene-aged deposits from Malta and Sicily. Its dimensions are described as exceeding those of the living mute swan by one-third,[2] which would give a bill-to-tail length of about 190–210 cm (75–83 in) (based on 145–160 cm for C. olor[3]). By comparison to the bones of living swans, it can be estimated that it weighed around 16 kg (35 lb) and had a wingspan of about 3 m (9.8 ft).[4][5][6] Due to its size, it may have been flightless.[7] The remains of the species are associated with the Elephas mnaidriensis faunal complex, and became extinct long before the arrival of people to Sicily and Malta.[8] Its bones are exhibited at Għar Dalam museum in Birżebbuġa, Malta.
| Giant swan Temporal range:
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| Reconstruction of Cygnus falconeri with Palaeoloxodon falconeri and a human for scale | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Family: | Anatidae |
| Genus: | Cygnus |
| Species: | C. falconeri
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| Binomial name | |
| Cygnus falconeri | |
References
edit- ^ Parker, W. K. (1865). "Preliminary notes on some fossil birds from the Zebbug Cave, Malta". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1865: 752–753 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ Heilprin, Angelo (1974). The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals (reprint ed.). New York: Ayer Publishing. p. 333. ISBN 0-405-05742-3.
- ^ Snow, D. W.; Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic (Concise ed.). OUP. ISBN 0-19-854099-X..
- ^ Northcote, E. M. (2008). "Size, Form and Habit of the Extinct Maltese Swan Cygnus falconeri". Ibis. 124 (2): 148–158. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1982.tb03753.x.
- ^ Watanabe, J.; Matsuoka, H. (2015). "Flightless diving duck (Aves, Anatidae) from the Pleistocene of Shiriya, northeast Japan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 35 (6): e994745. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.994745.
- ^ Watanabe, J. (2017). "Quantitative discrimination of flightlessness in fossil Anatidae from skeletal proportions". The Auk. 134 (3): 672–695. doi:10.1642/auk-17-23.1. hdl:2433/227150.
- ^ Antoni, Josep (May 30, 2000). "Vertebrate Evolution and Extinction on Western and Central Mediterranean Islands". Tropics (10): 103–123. Archived from the original on 2006-04-18.
- ^ Bonfiglio, Laura; Mangano, Gabriella; Marra, Antonella Cinzia; Masini, Federico; Pavia, Marco; Petruso, Daria (December 2002). "Pleistocene Calabrian and Sicilian bioprovinces". Geobios. 35: 29–39. Bibcode:2002Geobi..35...29B. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(02)00046-3. hdl:2318/89144.
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