Forest moa
| Forest moa | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Head of a forest moas |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Megalapterygidae | ||||||||||||
| Bunce et al., 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Megalapteryx | ||||||||||||
| Haast , 1886 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Megalapteryx didinus | ||||||||||||
| ( Owen , 1883) |
The forest moa ( Megalapteryx didinus ) is an extinct species of bird from the order of moas (Dinornithiformes) endemic to New Zealand .
description
The forest moa was the smallest species of moa with a height of about four feet and a weight of about 25 kg.
Habitat and way of life
The forest moa was found in the higher and cooler regions of the South Island . He lived in the subalpine vegetation zone and fed on shrubs and wild herbs .
die out
The upland moa was the last Moaart , which became extinct. It disappeared around 1500. However, there are scientists who suspect that isolated populations could have survived into the early 19th century.
Several museum specimens with soft tissue and remains of feathers are known. The type specimen A16 , which is in the British Museum , was found in 1876 near Queenstown . An Old Man Range ( C.68.2 ) leg with lots of muscle tissue, skin and feathers is in the Otago Museum , a skeleton with neck and head tissue from the Cromwell area ( NMNZ S400 ) and a foot with some muscles and tendons ( NMNZ S23080 ), found on January 7, 1987 at Mount Owen , are in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa . The latter find is dated to an age of 3300 to 3400 years.
Remnants of an incomplete egg ( Canterbury Museum NZ 1725 ) found on the Rakaia River in 1971 have been provisionally assigned to this species. The radiocarbon dating for the period 1300 - 1400 is consistent. The color of the eggs varied in individual individuals. It ranged from beige and creamy white to light green.
Individual evidence
- ^ Worthy, Trevor H. (1989): Mummified moa remains from Mt Owen, northwest Nelson. Notornis 36 (1): 36-38.
- ^ McCulloch, Beverley (1992): Unique, dark olive-green moa eggshell from Redcliffe Hill, Rakaia Gorge, Canterbury. Notornis 39 (1): 63-65 (PDF; 131 kB)
literature
- M. Bunce, TH Worthy, MJ Phillips, RN Holdaway, E. Willerslev, J. Haile, B. Shapiro, RP Scofield, A. Drummond, PJJ Kamp & A. Cooper. The evolutionary history of the extinct ratite moa and New Zealand Neogene paleogeography. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 2009; DOI: 10.1073 / pnas.0906660106
- 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
- Worthy, Trevor H. & Holdaway, Richard N.: The Lost World of the Moa. Prehistoric Life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2002. ISBN 0253340349
