Cryptogyps

Extinct genus of vultures

Cryptogyps is an extinct genus of Old World vulture from the Pleistocene of Australia. It was relatively small for a vulture but still larger than the extant wedge-tailed eagle. Originally described as an eagle in 1905, in 2022 it was reidentified as a vulture, the first known example from the continent. Phylogenetic analysis suggests it either being a sister species to the extant, widespread Eurasian vulture genus Gyps or as a more basal member of the subfamily. The identification of Cryptogyps as a vulture solves a longstanding mystery about the lack of specialized lineages of large scavenging birds in Australia despite being present on every other continent aside from Antarctica. It is likely that Cryptogyps went extinct towards the end of the Pleistocene due to the disappearance of the megafauna it depended on for carrion. The genus contains a single species, C. lacertosus.

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