Mauritius rail
| Mauritius Rail † | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mauritius rail † ( Aphanapteryx bonasia ) |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||
| Aphanapteryx | ||||||||||
| Frauenfeld , 1868 | ||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||
| Aphanapteryx bonasia | ||||||||||
| ( Selys , 1848) |
The Mauritius rail ( Aphanapteryx bonasia ) was a small red rail that was only native to Mauritius and disappeared before 1700 due to hunting and habitat destruction.
Today there are only bones of this species as well as a few more or less good representations, which suggest that the Mauritius rail might have reached a size of approx. 50 cm. From one of these representations and from contemporary reports it emerges that the bird was colored red or reddish brown and that its plumage was more like a coat . The beak was shaped differently from bird to bird, some were clearly curved, others almost straight.
It is also said that these birds had a particular interest in red objects. You could lure them with a piece of red cloth that they tried to attack. The birds could then be easily grabbed by hand and killed, whereby the screaming of the captured bird attracted other conspecifics who could then also be killed. The taste of their meat has been described as very good. So it is not surprising that the Mauritius railroad was already exterminated around 1700.
literature
- Julian Pender Hume. 2019. Systematics, Morphology and Ecology of Rails (Aves: Rallidae) of the Mascarene Islands, with One New Species. Zootaxa. 4626 (1); 1-107. DOI: 10.11646 / zootaxa.4626.1.1
Web links
- Aphanapteryx bonasia in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.