''Goliathia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

from the

Early Oligocene The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two age (geology), ages or the lower of two stage (stratigraphy), stages of the Oligocene epoch (geology), Epoch/series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded b ...

. The holotype is an ulna recovered from lower beds of the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Faiyum Governorate,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. 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 A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

, with this species and a fossil jacana, as well as lungfish and catfish recovered from it. The Goliathia Andrewsii likely ate lungfish and catfish. New studies show that the Goliathia Andrewsii may have reached sizes of 6 - 6.5 feet tall.

Sources

* ''The Origin and Evolution of Birds'' by Alan Feduccia, {{Taxonbar, from=Q5580730 Oligocene birds of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1930