Gaff's Giant/Powerful 'Eagle' (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Nothing much, nothing truly new, only some minor additions on the Works of the dedicatee behind the giant (sub-fossil) accipitrid Dynatoaetus gaffae (gen. et sp. nov.) MATHER et al. 2023 (here, alt. in the Bird Paleontology sub-forum, here):

Etymology: The genus name is a combination of the ancient Greek words δῠνᾰτός (dynatós), meaning strong, mighty, or powerful, and ᾱ̓ετός (āetós) meaning eagle.
[...]
Etymology: The name ‘gaffae’ honours Priscilla Gaff, who first discussed the fossil material of this species in her 2002 thesis revising Australian accipitrids.

In today’s Key explained as:

gaffae
Priscilla Gaff (fl. 2023) Australian palaeontologist, educationalist (‡Dynatoaetus).

All in line with what’s told here (or here):

... named in honour of Victorian palaeontologist Priscilla Gaff who first described some of these fossils in her 2002 Master of Science thesis.

Her Thesis (of Master of Science Degree, School of Geosciences, Faculty of Science, Monash University, January 2002): The Fossil History of the Family Accipitridae in Australia (accessible here, 30.87 MB) ...

... ending up with the (same) Australian paleontologist Priscilla Gaff here [program coordinator (from 2007) at Museum Victoria, in Melbourne, who studied Australian raptor fossils for her Master's thesis]. Also see here (from/in 2015).

As well, for the story behind "Gaff's powerful eagle", see; here, or here.

Enjoy!

/B