Bush moa
Bush moa Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene
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skeleton | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Infraclass: | Palaeognathae |
Order: | †Dinornithiformes |
Family: | †Emeidae |
Genus: | †Anomalopteryx Reichenbach 1852 |
Species: | †A. didiformis
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Binomial name | |
†Anomalopteryx didiformis | |
Synonyms | |
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The bush moa, little bush moa, or lesser moa (Anomalopteryx didiformis) is an extinct species of moa from the family Emeidae (lesser moa).
It was the smallest known species of moa, only slightly taller than a turkey. A slender bird, it weighed around 30 kilograms (66 lb).[3] It inhabited much of the North Island and small sections of the South Island of New Zealand. It habitated the dense lowland conifer, broad-leafed Southern beech forests and scrubland.[3][4]
It possessed a sturdy, sharp-edged beak, suggesting that its diet was made up of twigs and other tough plant material.[3]
Native predators included the Haast's eagle and Eyles' harrier.[3] The species went extinct alongside other native New Zealand wildlife around 500-600 years ago, following the arrival and proliferation of the Maori people in New Zealand, as well as the introduction of Polynesian dogs.[3]
As with all moa, they have with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate.[4] The most complete remains, a partially articulated skeleton with substantial mummified tissue and feathers were discovered in 1980 in Lake Echo Valley, east of Te Anau, Southland.[5] It is now in the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, in Invercargill. Anomalopteryx fossils made up the bulk of moa fossils discovered in a swamp in 1912 in Clevedon.[6]
Scientists at Harvard University assembled the first nearly complete genome of the species from toe bones.[7][8] Thus bringing the species a step closer to being "resurrected" in the future.[7]
Footnotes
- ^ Brands, S. (2008)
- ^ B.J. Gill; B.D. Bell; G.K. Chambers; D.G. Medway; R.L. Palma; R.P. Scofield; A.J.D. Tennyson & T.H. Worthy (2010). Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica (PDF) (4th ed.). Wellington, NZ: Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-1-877385-59-9.
- ^ a b c d e "Little bush moa | New Zealand Birds Online". nzbirdsonline.org.nz. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ a b Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)
- ^ Forrest, R. M. (1987). "A partially mummified skeleton of Anomalopteryx didiformis from Southland". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Royal Society of New Zealand. 17 (4): 399–408. doi:10.1080/03036758.1987.10426481. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
- ^ Gill, B.J. (2003). "HISTORICAL MOA BONE COLLECTIONS (AVES: DINORNITHIFORMES) AT AUCKLAND MUSEUM—CLEVEDON AND KIA ORA". Records of the Auckland Museum. 40: 39–53. ISSN 1174-9202.
- ^ a b "Scientists reconstruct the genome of a moa, a bird extinct for 700 years". STAT. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
- ^ "Anomalopteryx didiformis (ID 124) - Genome - NCBI".
References
- Brands, Sheila (14 August 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Genus Anomalopteryx". Project: The Taxonomicon. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
- Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Moas". In Hutchins, Michael (ed.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Vol. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2 ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 95–98. ISBN 0-7876-5784-0.
External links
- Little Bush Moa. Anomalopteryx didiformis. by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
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