Extinct Daggett's Eagle (Buteogallus daggetti) Fact Sheet: Taxonomy & History

• Until recently, classified as Wetmoregyps daggetti (Miller 1928)
• Called the "walking eagle" for its very long slender legs
• Restudied and assigned to the genus Buteogallus (Olson 2007)
  • Resembles closely the modern Savanna Hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis) but is 40% larger

• There are two major lineages of modern birds: palaeognathae and neognathae (Hackett et al 2008)
  • Palaeognathae birds include the ratites such as the rhea and tinamous
  • The category Neognathae includes all other birds
• Neognathae birds existed in the Cretaceous, by at least 70 million years ago (Dingus and Rowe 1998)
  • Predatory hawks, falcons, and owls had probably diverged from other neognaths in the Cretaceous (Dingus and Rowe 1998)
• The Daggett's Eagle became extinct along with several other large predatory birds, like Teratornis, by about 13,000 years ago (Steadman & Martin 1984)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Falconiformes (diurnal birds of prey; DNA studies say category may need revision)

Family: Accipitridae (hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, Old World vultures)

Genus: Buteogallus

Species: Buteogallus daggetti (Olson, 2007*) - Daggett's Eagle (extinct)

*Described in Ornithological Monographs 63(1):110-114

Hackett et al. (2008)
Miller (1928)
Olson (2007)
Steadman & Martin (1984)