''Neophrontops'' 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 ...

Old World vulture Old World vultures are vultures that are found in the Old World, i.e. the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and which belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, buzzards, kites, and hawks. Old World vultures are not ...

. Despite being taxonomically an "Old World" vulture, specifically a member of the subfamily

Gypaetinae The Gypaetinae is one of two subfamilies of Old World vultures the other being the Aegypiinae. Some taxonomic authorities place the Gypaetinae within the Perninae hawks. They are presently found throughout much of Africa, Asia, and southern Europ ...

, it was native to North America, with six species having been named, spanning from the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...

to the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

. All except ''N. americanus'' are only known from fragmentary remains, though well preserved remains are known from the late Middle-Late Pleistocene aged

La Brea Tar Pits La Brea Tar Pits comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...

of Southern California.

Taxonomy

* ''N. americanus'' (Early Miocene to Late Pleistocene) Questioned whether all remains assigned to this species belonged to it because "if it had corresponded to one biological species, it would have had an extraordinary vast existence." * ''N. dakotensis'' (Early-Middle Pliocene) Only known from a distal humerus * ''N. vetustus'' (Middle Miocene) Only known from a distal humerus, which only differs from that of ''N. dakotensis'' by the fact that it is about half the size * ''N''. ''slaughteri'' (Late Pliocene) * ''N. vallecitoensis'' (Middle Pleistocene)

References

Accipitridae Pleistocene birds of North America {{Accipitriformes-stub