St. Helena Moorhen

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St. Helena Moorhen
Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Crane birds (Gruiformes)
Family : Rallen (Rallidae)
Genre : Moorhens ( Porzana )
Type : St. Helena Moorhen
Scientific name
Porzana astrictocarpus
Olson , 1973

The St. Helena Moorhen ( Porzana astrictocarpus ) is an extinct species of St. Helena bird , one of two flightless species of claws on this island that survived into the 16th century.

After the American ornithologist Alexander Wetmore discovered bones of the great St. Helena rail ( Aphanocrex podarces ) in Prosperous Bay , St. Helena in 1963 , the American paleontologist Storrs Lovejoy Olson found almost complete skeletons smaller than that of Olson in 1973 in the same area that of Aphanocrex podarces . Due to the special structure of the Carpometacarpus , he named this species Porzana astrictocarpus .

Olson suggests that the St. Helena Moorhen was a descendant of the Pygmy moorhen ( Porzana pusilla ), which is widespread in Europe and Africa . Because there were no predators on St. Helena, it has lost its ability to fly. However, when the settlement of St. Helena began at the beginning of the 16th century, many mammals were brought to the island, which sealed the fate of the St. Helena Moorhen.

literature

  • Storrs L. Olson: Paleornithology of St. Helena Island, south Atlantic Ocean . Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 23 (1975)

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