List of Late Quaternary prehistoric bird species-Cedar Herald Index

Late Quaternary prehistoric birds are avian taxa that became extinct during the Late Quaternary – the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene – and before recorded history, specifically before they could be studied alive by ornithological science. They had died out before the period of global scientific exploration that started in the late 15th century. In other words, this list deals with avian extinctions between 40,000 BC and AD 1500. For the purposes of this article, a "bird" is any member of the clade Neornithes, that is, any descendant of the most recent common ancestor of all currently living birds.

The birds are known from their remains, which are subfossil; as the remains are not completely fossilized, they may yield organic material for molecular analyses to provide additional clues for resolving their taxonomic affiliations. Some birds are also known from folk memory, as in the case of Haast's eagle in New Zealand.

List of Late Quaternary prehistoric bird species

The extinction of the taxa in this list was coincident with the expansion of Homo sapiens beyond Africa and Eurasia, and in most cases, anthropogenic factors played a crucial part in their extinction, be it through hunting, introduced predators or habitat alteration. It is notable that a large proportion of the species are from oceanic islands, especially in Polynesia. Bird taxa that evolved on oceanic islands are usually very vulnerable to hunting or predation by rats, dogs, cats or pigs (animals commonly introduced by humans) as they evolved in the absence of mammalian predators, and therefore have only rudimentary predator avoidance behavior. Many, especially rails, have additionally become flightless for the same reason and thus present even easier prey.

List of Late Quaternary prehistoric bird species

Taxon extinctions taking place before the Late Quaternary happened in the absence of significant human interference. Rather, reasons for extinction are random abiotic events such as bolide impacts, climate changes, mass volcanic eruptions, etc. Alternatively, species may have become extinct due to evolutionary displacement by successor or competitor taxa – it is notable for example that in the early Neogene, seabird biodiversity was much higher than today; this is probably due to competition by the radiation of marine mammals after that time. The relationships of these ancient birds are often hard to determine, as many are known only from very fragmentary remains and complete fossilization precludes analysis of information from DNA, RNA or protein sequencing.

List of Late Quaternary prehistoric bird species

Extinct bird species differed from extant birds by being larger, mostly restricted to islands, and often flightless. These factors made them especially vulnerable to human prosecution and to other anthropogenically related declines.

Taxonomic list of Late Quaternary prehistoric birds

All of these birds are in Neornithes.

†Aepyornithiformes

The elephant birds of Madagascar

†Aepyornithidae - greater elephant birds

†Aepyornis

Giant elephant bird, Aepyornis maximus - A 2018 study moved the largest elephant bird specimens to the genus Vorombe, but a 2023 genetic study regarded Vorombe as synonymous with Aepyornis maximus. Hildebrandt's elephant bird, Aepyornis hildebrandti †Mullerornithidae - lesser elephant birds †Mullerornis Lesser elephant bird, Mullerornis modestus

†Dinornithiformes

The moa of New Zealand

†Emeidae – lesser moa

†Anomalopteryx

Bush moa, Anomalopteryx didiformis (North and South Islands, New Zealand) †Euryapteryx Broad-billed moa, Euryapteryx curtus (North Island, New Zealand) †Pachyornis Crested moa, Pachyornis australis (western South Island, New Zealand) Heavy-footed moa, Pachyornis elephantopus (eastern South Island, New Zealand) Mantell's moa, Pachyornis geranoides (North Island, New Zealand) †Emeus Eastern moa, Emeus crassus (South Island, New Zealand) †Dinornithidae – giant moa †Dinornis North Island giant moa, Dinornis novaezealandiae (North Island, New Zealand) South Island giant moa, Dinornis robustus (South Island, New Zealand) †Megalapterygidae – upland moa †Megalapteryx Upland moa, Megalapteryx didinus (South Island, New Zealand) – may have survived into historic times (syn. Megalapteryx benhami)