Hawkins rail
| Hawkins rail | ||||||||||
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Hawkins rail ( Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi ) |
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| Forbes, 1892 | ||||||||||
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| Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi | ||||||||||
| ( Forbes , 1892) |
The Hawkins rail ( Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi ) or Mehonui is an extinct species of rail from the Chatham Islands . The species was described in 1892 by the explorer Henry Ogg Forbes on the basis of skeletal remains (including a completely preserved skull) that he had received from the paleontologist William Hawkins. Forbes recognized the unusual size of this rail and estimated it to be about 40 cm. He stated the weight as 2 kg. It was also characterized by relatively short foot bones and complete inability to fly. Their diet probably consisted of insects and fern roots.
For a long time it was assumed that the Hawkins Railroad was exterminated by the Moriori (the first settlers on the Chatham Islands) around 300 to 450 years before it was settled by the Europeans . More recently, however, a letter from the ornithologist Sigvard Dannefaerd to Lord Rothschild from 1895 was found which contains indications that this rail could have survived into the late 19th century.
literature
- Gill, B. & Martinson, P .: New Zealand's Extinct Birds - Random Century, Auckland, New Zealand, 1991, ISBN 1-869411-471
- Tennyson, A. & Martinson, P. Extinct birds of New Zealand - Te Papa Press, 2006, ISBN 0-909010-218
Web links
- Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 8 of 2009.
- New evidence on the life and death of Hawkins' rail ( English ; PDF; 135 kB)
- Illustration of the Hawkins Rail