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Lavocatavis
''Lavocatavis'' is an extinct genus of phorusrhacoid or "terror bird" from the Eocene of Algeria. A fossilized femur was described from the Glib Zegdou Formation in 2011 and is the only known specimen of ''Lavocatavis''. The species was designated ''L. africana''. The generic epithet is in honor of French paleontologist René Lavocat (plus Latin avis 'bird') and the specific epithet is Latin for "African".
==Paleobiogeography==
The oldest phorusrhacoids are from South America and Antarctica, suggesting that the ancestors of ''Lavocatavis'' migrated into Africa from the west. During the Eocene, the Atlantic Ocean separated South America from Africa by at least , ruling out a land migration. For a flightless terrestrial bird like ''Lavocatavis'', the only means of entering Africa would be through rafting on floating islands or island hopping. Currents traveled westward in the South Atlantic during the early Paleocene, making it unlikely that phorusrhacoids traveled on floating islands. The ancestors of ''Lavocatavis'' most likely traveled between very large islands that existed on what are now the submerged Rio Grande Rise and Walvis Ridge. However, it is also possible that the ancestors of ''Lavocatavis'' retained some of their flight ability and were able to travel between islands with more ease than flightless birds. If this was the case, ''Lavocatavis'' became flightless independently in a case of evolutionary convergence with other flightless phorusrhacoids.〔
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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