Gallirallus roletti
| Gallirallus roletti | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gallirallus roletti | ||||||||||||
| Kirchman & Steadman , 2007 |
Gallirallus roletti was a medium-sized flightless Gallirallus species from the island of Tahuata , part of the Marquesas Islands and located in the Southeast Pacific. It was about the same size as Gallirallus owstoni, G. philippensis, G. striatus and G. torquatus . It was larger than G. ripleyi and G. wakensis but smaller than G. australis, G. vekamatolu and G. woodfordi .
From tahuata rail 22 bones are collectively known, most of which, however, were not related but were found separately. Since the sternum, shoulder blade and wing bones were missing from the bone finds, the inability to fly of the species could only be read off from the fact that the raven bone was relatively small and shaped like other flightless species of the genus.
The rail was named after Barry V. Rolett to honor his research in the Marquesas Islands. His excavations at the "Hananiai" excavation site produced the largest and most useful collection of Gallirallus bones found on the Maquesen .
source
- Jeremy J. Kirchman and David W. Steadman: New Species of Extinct Rails (Aves: Rallidae) from Archaeological Sites in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. Pacific Science, Volume 61, Issue 1 (January 2007) doi : 10.1353 / psc.2007.0008