Aptornis
| Aptornis | ||||||||||
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Skeletal reconstruction of aptornis otidiformis |
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| Aptornithidae | ||||||||||
| Mantell , 1848 | ||||||||||
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| Aptornis | ||||||||||
| Owen , 1848 | ||||||||||
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Aptornis (English common name : Adzebill ) is the only genus of the family Aptornithidae , extinct flightless birds thatwere nativeto New Zealand . They belong to the order of the crane birds , but it was assumed that they have no other close relatives in the recent avifauna . A study published in February 2019 came to the result that the African-Malagasy rall family Sarothruridae is a sister group of the genus Aptornis , which is also its closest recent relative. Morphological similarities with the Kagus apparently have more to do with the convergent development of the species than with a closer relationship.
Until 2011 the genus Aptornis was represented by the two species Aptornis defossor and Aptornis otidiformis . In 2009, bone material from a fossil form from the early Miocene was discovered in the Saint Bathans Fauna Formation in Central Otago on the South Island , which was provisionally described in 2011 as Aptornis proasciarostratus . It is smaller than Aptornis otidiformis .
When Richard Owen described the first bone in 1844, he assumed it was a newly discovered species of Moa and named it Dinornis otidiformis . It was only when a skull and a foot were found that it was recognized that it was a hitherto unknown species of bird.
The aptornis reached a size of 80 centimeters. Aptornis otidiformis was widespread in the North Island and reached a weight of 16 kg. Aptornis defossor was described by Richard Owen in 1871. The species lived on the South Island and weighed up to 19 kg. The skull was very long and the beak curved downwards. The toes were short and strong. The Aptornis presumably lived a predatory life , feeding on large invertebrates , skinks , geckos , bridge lizards , nesting sea birds and ducks .
Presumably the Aptornis died out at the end of the 13th century due to overhunting and habitat changes. From Aptornis otidiformis the fossil remains of about 78 specimens and of Aptornis defossor the remains of about 100 specimens have been preserved.
literature
- Fain, Matthew G. & Houde, Peter (2004): Parallel radiations in the primary clades of birds. In: Evolution 58 (11): 2558-2573. PDF full text (608 kB)
- Hamilton, Augustus (1891) On the Genus Aptornis, with more Especial Reference to Aptornis defossor, Owen . Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868-1961 Vol. 24, 1891 PDF full text (754 kB)
- Livezey, Bradley C. (1994): The carpometacarpus of Apterornis . In: Notornis. 41. (1): 51-60. PDF full text (492 kB)
- Tennyson, A. & Martinson, P .: Extinct birds of New Zealand , Te Papa Press, 2006, ISBN 0-909010-218
- Weber, Erich & Hesse, Angelika (1995): The systematic position of Aptornis , a flightless bird from New Zealand. Courier Research Institute Senckenberg 181 .: 292–301.
- Trevor H. Worthy : The glossohyal and thyroid bone of Aptornis otidiformes . In: Notornis. 1989, 36. (3): 248 PDF full text (3.94 MB).
- Worthy, Trevor H., & Holdaway, Richard N. (2002): The Lost World of the Moa. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, ISBN 0-253-34034-9
- Worthy, Trevor H .; Tennyson Alan JD; Scofield, R. Paul: Fossils reveal an early Miocene presence of the aberrant gruiformes: Aptornithidae in New Zealand In: Journal of Ornithology (2011) Vol. 152 (No. 3): p. 669-680
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alexander P. Boast, Brendan Chapman, Michael B. Herrera, Trevor H. Worthy, R. Paul Scofield, Alan JD Tennyson, Peter Houde, Michael Bunce, Alan Cooper and Kieren J. Mitchell. Mitochondrial Genomes from New Zealand's Extinct Adzebills (Aves: Aptornithidae: Aptornis ) Support a Sister-Taxon Relationship with the Afro-Madagascan Sarothruridae. Diversity, 2019 DOI: 10.3390 / d11020024
