Corvus viriosus
| Corvus viriosus | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Corvus viriosus | ||||||||||||
| Olson & James , 1991 |
Corvus viriosus is an extinct species of corvids . The great representative of the ravens and crows ( Corvus ) livedon the Hawaiian islands of Oʻahu and Molokaʻi until the Holocene . Corvus viriosus probably inhabited the lowlands of these islands and probably specialized in a certain range of food.
The species was described in 1991 by Storrs Lovejoy Olson and Helen Frances James . She is one of at least three Hawaiian crows species, of which today only the Hawaiian Crow ( C. hawaiiensis ) exists. Corvus viriosus died out before the arrival of the Europeans in the Hawaiian archipelago, probably due to the animals introduced by the Polynesians .
features
Corvus viriosus had a long, narrow and slightly curved bill. The upper beak measured 65.1–74.2 mm. Thus, C. viriosus clearly differed from the two sympatric crow species, C. impluviatus and the Hawaiian crow ( C. hawaiiensis ), which had or have shorter and sturdier beaks. The barrel bone measured 66.2–76.2 mm. The species was, on average, significantly larger than the Hawaiian crow, but lagged behind C. impluviatus in most dimensions .
distribution and habitat
Corvus viriosus remains were found both on Oahu in a flooded cave at Barber's Point and on Molokaʻi in the Moomomi dunes and at Ilio Point . All sites were or are located in the low areas of the islands, so C. viriosus was possibly a type of the dry lowlands.
Way of life
One can only speculate about the way of life of Corvus viriosus . The beak shape suggests that the species occupied a different niche than the other two Hawaiian crow species. Both the Hawaiian crow and the Pacific crow species, which are considered to be the closest relatives of the Hawaiian crows, are predominantly fruit-eaters , which is why such a diet is also an option for C. viriosus .
Systematics
The first finds of Corvus viriosus were 1977 by Storrs Olson found at Barber's Point. It was a largely complete skeleton with only parts of the chest, a few vertebrae and extremities missing. In 1991, Olson and his then wife Helen James described the species using this holotype and some paratypes from Moloka'i. The epithet viriosus means something like "robust" or "strong" in Latin and relates both to the size of the species compared to the Hawaiian crow and to the body structure of the endemic crow species in general.
The position of the Hawaiian crows within the genus Corvus Olson and James suggest that all species come from a single settlement of the islands. They think it is less likely that their ancestor came from North America . Instead, they suspect that the ravens and crows - analogous to the honey-eaters (Meliphagidae) - came to Hawaii from the Australasian area.
die out
Corvus viriosus was already extinct when the first Europeans arrived on Hawai'i. Like C. impluviatus , the species probably fell victim to habitat changes in the course of Polynesian colonization and the animals introduced by the Polynesians in the late 18th century.
swell
literature
- Julian Pender Hume, Michael Walters: Extinct Birds. A&C Black, London 2012. ISBN 140815725X .
- Storrs L. Olson, Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new Species of Birds from the Hawaiian Islands. In: Ornithological Monographs 46, June 1991. ISBN 0-935868-54-2 . ( Full text ; PDF; 4.7 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Olson & James 1991 , pp. 18-22.
- ↑ a b Olson & James 1991 , p. 22.
- ↑ Hume & Walters 2012 , p. 247.
- ↑ Hume & Walters 2012 , p. 246.
- ↑ Olson & James 1991 , pp. 19-20.
- ↑ Hume & Walters 2012 , pp. 246–247.
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