Gallirallus gracilitibia
| Gallirallus gracilitibia | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gallirallus gracilitibia | ||||||||||||
| Kirchman & Steadman , 2007 |
Gallirallus gracilitibia is an extinct, small to medium-sized rail from the genus Gallirallus . She was more gracefully built than any other member of this genus.
The characteristics of the raven bones ( coracoid ) and humerus as well as their size ratio to the unusually delicate leg bones indicate that the species was flightless . The epithet of the species gracilitibia is made up of the Latin words gracilis for "graceful, thin, graceful" and tibia for the shin and alludes to the unusually delicate structure of the lower leg bone ( tibiotarsus ) of this species. The bones were found individually at the same excavation site on the island of Ua Huka , which belongs to the Marquesas Islands and is in the Southeast Pacific, and come from at least eight different individuals.
literature
- Jeremy J. Kirchman , David W. Steadman : New Species of Extinct Rails (Aves: Rallidae) from Archaeological Sites in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. In: Pacific Science. Volume 61, No. 1, 2007, doi : 10.1353 / psc.2007.0008