Snipe rail
| Snipe rail | ||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||
| Capellirallus | ||||||||||
| Falla , 1954 | ||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||
| Capellirallus karamu | ||||||||||
| Falla , 1954 |
The snipe rail ( Capellirallus karamu ) is an extinct, flightless species of rail that was endemic to the North Island of New Zealand . The specific epithet is derived from the about 21 km from Hamilton away situated Karamu Cave on where in 1954 the type material was discovered.
features
The Schnepfenrale was a relatively small rail, which compared to its body size had a very long beak of 7 centimeters in length. Her weight was about 240 grams. The type material consists of an incomplete skeleton, vertebrae and the pelvis. However, complete skeletons with hundreds of bones have now been found in various parts of the North Island. The Schnepfenrale occupies a special position within the New Zealand rail species. Its evolutionary relationship to other species of railing is unclear, but the nature of the bones suggests that it was closely related to the also extinct Chathamralle ( Gallirallus modestus ). Measured by its size, the snipe rail had the smallest wings of all known species of rail. She also had a relatively large tarsometatarsus .
Habitat and way of life
Most of the bone finds come from the western regions of the North Island, where humid, enclosed rainforests predominated. The long beak suggests that, similar to the kiwifruit, they could search the ground with their beak for food.
die out
Due to its inability to fly, the snipe rail was easy prey for the Pacific rat , which was introduced into New Zealand from the 13th century.
literature
- Ripley, SD (1977): Rails of the World - A Monograph of the Family Rallidae . Boston. ISBN 0874748046
- Tennyson, A. & Martinson, P. (2006): Extinct Birds of New Zealand ; Te Papa Press, Wellington, New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-909010-21-8
- Worthy, Trevor H. & Holdaway, Richard N.: The Lost World of the Moa. Prehistoric Life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2002. ISBN 0253340349
- Scarlett, Ron (1970): The genus Capellirallus In: Notornis (1970): p. 303-319. Quarterly Journal of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand.
