Goliathia is an extinct genus of bird from the Early Oligocene.[1] The holotype is an ulna recovered from lower beds of the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Faiyum Governorate, Egypt. Initially thought to be a heron, an additional bone, a tarsometatarsus, showed this bird to be closely related to the living shoebill. Its full name is Goliathia andrewsii, but may be closely related enough to be classed within the same genus as the living species. The ancient habitat was likely a thickly vegetated freshwater swamp, with this species and a fossil jacana, as well as lungfish and catfish recovered from it. The same size as the living shoebill, it likely ate lungfish and catfish.[2]
| Goliathia Temporal range:
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Pelecaniformes |
| Family: | Balaenicipitidae |
| Genus: | †Goliathia Lambrecht, 1930 |
| Species: | †G. andrewsii
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| Binomial name | |
| †Goliathia andrewsii Lambrecht, 1930
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Sources
edit- ^ Smith, N.D.; Ksepka, D.T. (2015). "Five well-supported fossil calibrations within the "Waterbird" assemblage (Tetrapoda, Aves)". Palaeontologia Electronica. 18 (1): 1–21. doi:10.26879/483.
- ^ D. Tab Rasmussen; Storrs L. Olson; Elwyn L. Simons (1987). "Fossil Birds from the Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum Province, Egypt" (PDF). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (62): 30–31. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
- The Origin and Evolution of Birds by Alan Feduccia, ISBN 978-0300078619