Broad-billed moa

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Broad-billed moa
Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene
Stout-legged Moa.jpg
Skull
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Order:† Dinornithiformes
Family:† Emeidae
Genus:† Euryapteryx
Haast, 1874
Species:
†E. curtus
Binomial name
†Euryapteryx curtus
(Owen, 1846) [3] [4]
Synonyms
List
  • CelaReichenbach 1853 non Moehring 1758
  • CeleusBonaparte 1856 non Boie 1831
  • ZelornisOliver 1949
  • Dinornis curtusOwen, 1846
  • Cela curtus(Owen 1846) Reichenbach, 1850
  • Celeus curtus(Owen 1846) Bonaparte, 1865
  • Anomalopteryx curta(Owen 1846) Lydekker 1891
  • Euryapteryx curtus(Owen 1846) Archey 1941
  • Mesopteryx species αParker 1895
  • Euryapteryx exilisHutton, 1897
  • Zelornis exilis(Hutton 1897) Oliver 1949
  • Euryapteryx taneOliver 1949
  • Dinornis gravisOwen, 1870
  • Pachyornis gravis(Owen 1870)
  • Euryapteryx pygmaeusHutton 1891 non Pachyornis pygmaeusHutton 1895
  • Emeus gravipesLydekker, 1891
  • Euryapteryx gravipes(Lydekker 1891) Oliver 1930
  • Euryapteryx compactaHutton 1893
  • Emeus crassusParker 1895 non (Owen 1846) Reichenbach 1853
  • Euryapteryx ponderosaHamilton 1898 non Hutton 1891
  • Emeus boothiRothschild 1907
  • Emeus haastiRothschild 1907 non Palaeocasuarius haastiRothschild 1907
  • Zelornis haasti(Rothschild 1907) Oliver 1949
  • Euryapteryx haasti(Rothschild 1907)
  • Emeus parkeriRothschild 1907
  • Euryapteryx kuranuiOliver 1930
  • Euryapteryx geranoidesChecklist Committee 1990 non Palapteryx geranoides

The broad-billed moa, stout-legged moa, [5] [6] or coastal moa (Euryapteryx curtus) is an extinct species of moa that was endemic to New Zealand.

Contents

Taxonomy

Euryapteryx curtus is a ratite and a member of the lesser moa family. The ratites are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. [7]

A 2009 genetic study showed that the species Euryapteryx gravis is a junior synonym of E. curtus. [8] Following this, a study published in 2010 explained size differences among the remains as being a result of sexual dimorphism. [9] A 2012 morphological study interpreted them as subspecies instead. [10] E. c. curtus, the nominate subspecies, was labeled the "coastal moa", [1] while E. c. gravis was the "stout-legged moa". [2]

The cladogram below follows a 2009 analysis by Bunce et al.: [11]

Dinornithiformes

Habitat and distribution

Life restoration Euryapteryx.jpg
Life restoration

Euryapteryx curtus was one of the most widespread moa species, inhabiting mostly open areas. [6] These moa lived on both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand, and remains have also been recovered from nearby Stewart Island. It inhabited lowland environments like duneland, forest, shrubland, and grassland. [7]

Behaviour and ecology

As of 2006, half of all complete or mostly complete moa eggs in museum collections are likely broad-billed moa specimens. [12] Of the specimens traditionally given the name Euryapteryx gravis, the eggs have an average length of 205 mm (8.1 in) and width of 143 mm (5.6 in), while the group traditionally assigned to the name Euryapteryx curtus had an average length of 122 mm (4.8 in) and width of 94 mm (3.7 in). [12]

The species presumably went extinct for the same reasons as proposed for other moa: overhunting by the Māori (who called them "moa hakahaka") after their arrival on the islands in the 14th century. [2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Euryapteryx curtus curtus. NZTCS". nztcs.org.nz. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Euryapteryx curtus gravis. NZTCS". nztcs.org.nz. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  3. ↑ Owen, R. (1846). A History of British Fossil Mammals and Birds. London, UK: John Van Voorst.
  4. ↑ Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand (2010). "Checklist-of-Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands and the Ross Dependency Antarctica" (PDF). Te Papa Press. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Stout-legged moa | New Zealand Birds Online".
  6. 1 2 Tennyson, Alan J. D. (2006). Extinct birds of New Zealand. Paul Martinson. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Papa Press. p. 36. ISBN   978-0-909010-21-8. OCLC   80016906.
  7. 1 2 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 (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. ISBN   0-7876-5784-0.
  8. ↑ Bunce, Michael; Worthy, Trevor H.; Phillips, Matthew J.; Holdaway, Richard N.; Willerslev, Eske; Haile, James; Shapiro, Beth; Scofield, R. Paul; Drummond, Alexei; Kamp, Peter J. J.; Cooper, Alan (8 December 2009). "The evolutionary history of the extinct ratite moa and New Zealand Neogene paleogeography" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (49): 20646–20651. Bibcode:2009PNAS..10620646B. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0906660106 . PMC   2791642 . PMID   19923428.
  9. ↑ Gill, B. J. (2010). "Regional comparisons of the thickness of moa eggshell fragments (Aves: Dinornithiformes)". Records of the Australian Museum. 62: 115–122. doi: 10.3853/j.0067-1975.62.2010.1535 .
  10. ↑ Worthy, T. H.; Scofield, R. P. (2012). "Twenty-first century advances in knowledge of the biology of moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes): a new morphological analysis and moa diagnoses revised". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 39 (2): 87–153. doi:10.1080/03014223.2012.665060. S2CID   83768608.
  11. ↑ Bunce et al. 2009.
  12. 1 2 Gill, B. J. (2006). "A Catalogue of Moa Eggs (Aves: Dinornithiformes)". Papahou: Records of the Auckland Museum . 43: 55–80. ISSN   1174-9202. JSTOR   42905885. Wikidata   Q58623352.
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