Megapodius molistructor
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| Megapodius molistructor | ||||||||
| Balouet & Olson , 1989 |
Megapodius molistructor is an extinct large foot fowl . The fossil remains were found by Jean-Christophe Balouet and Storrs Lovejoy Olson in caves on New Caledonia and Tonga .
description
Megapodius molistructor reached a weight of 3.5 kilograms and was therefore heavier than all large foot fowl that still exist today. Megapodius molistructor was the largest ground-dwelling bird species in Tonga .
die out
When the early settlers reached Tonga during the Lapita culture (from 1500 BC), they only found marine animals such as sea turtles and gigantic terrestrial birds such as railing, pigeons, and large foot fowl. The hunt for the birds for food led to a rapid extinction of the avifauna .
In New Caledonia , the giant megapod may have existed in historical times. When William Anderson, the medical mate on the Resolution , stopped in New Caledonia on James Cook's second voyage to the South Seas, he described a species of bird with featherless legs which he called Tetrao australis . But since all species of the genus Tetrao have feathered legs, Anderson's bird could have been a large-footed hen.
literature
- Balouet, J.-C. & Alibert, E. (1990): Extinct Species of the World , Barrons, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney. ISBN 2-7373-0254-4
- Steadman, David William (2006): Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds . University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-77142-3
- Balouet, Jean Christophe; Olson, Storrs L .: Fossil Birds from Late Quaternary Deposits in New Caledonia PDF, online (22.5 MB)