Wilaru is an extinct genus of presbyornithid bird from Australia during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene, around 26-22 million years ago.

The genus name Wilaru is the term for “stone curlew” in the Diyari language of the Lake Eyre region.

In particular, the latter W. prideauxi appears to have been more specialised towards terrestriality than the earlier W. tedfordi, being larger and more robust, indicating a clear speciation towards this lifestyle and therefore a direct species sequence.

Like the closely related modern-day screamers, these were almost certainly used to fight, indicating perhaps territorial habits, as opposed to the more gregarious nature of earlier presbyornithids.

[5] However, a 2025 study which reported a nearly complete skull of Vegavis revised the phylogenetic analyses of Galloanserae and recovered Wilaru as a member of the Presbyornithidae within Anseriformes.