| Broad-billed moa Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene | |
|---|---|
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| Skull | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Infraclass: | Palaeognathae |
| Order: | † Dinornithiformes |
| Family: | † Emeidae |
| Genus: | † Euryapteryx Haast, 1874 |
| Species: | †E. curtus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Euryapteryx curtus | |
| Synonyms | |
List
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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.
A 2009 genetic study showed that Euryapteryx curtus and Euryapteryx gravis were synonyms. [7] A 2010 study explained size differences among them as sexual dimorphism. [8] A 2012 morphological study interpreted them as subspecies instead. [9] 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.: [10]
| Dinornithiformes |
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It was 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. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas that they have been found in. [11]
It was one of the most widespreas moa species, inhabiting open areas. [6] These moa lived in both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand, and on Stewart Island. Its habitat was in the lowlands (duneland, forest, shrubland, and grassland). [11]
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 has an average length of 205mm and width of 143mm, while the group traditionally assigned to the name Euryapteryx curtus had an average length of 122mm and width of 94mm. [12] The species presumably went extinct for the same reasons as other moa - overhunting by the Māori (who called them "moa hakahaka") [2] upon their arrival in the 14th century.
Moa are an extinct group of flightless birds formerly endemic to New Zealand. During the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, there were nine species. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about 3.6 metres (12 ft) in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about 230 kilograms (510 lb) while the smallest, the bush moa, was around the size of a turkey. Estimates of the moa population when Polynesians settled New Zealand circa 1300 vary between 58,000 and approximately 2.5 million.
The New Zealand wrens are a family (Acanthisittidae) of tiny passerines endemic to New Zealand. They were represented by seven Holocene species in four or five genera, although only two species in two genera survive today. They are understood to form a distinct lineage within the passerines, but authorities differ on their assignment to the oscines or suboscines. More recent studies suggest that they form a third, most ancient, suborder Acanthisitti and have no living close relatives at all. They are called "wrens" due to similarities in appearance and behaviour to the true wrens (Troglodytidae) but are not members of that family.
The adzebills, genus Aptornis, were two closely related bird species, the North Island adzebill,, and the South Island adzebill,, of the extinct family Aptornithidae. The family was endemic to New Zealand. A tentative fossil species,, is known from the Miocene Saint Bathans fauna.
The bush moa, little bush moa, or lesser moa is an extinct species of moa from the family Emeidae.
The upland moa is an extinct species of moa that was endemic to New Zealand. It is a ratite, a grouping of flightless birds with no keel on the sternum. It was the last moa species to become extinct, vanishing around 1500 CE, and was predominantly found in alpine and sub-alpine environments.
The giant moa (Dinornis) is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. As with other moa, it was a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of Dinornis are considered valid, the North Island giant moa and the South Island giant moa. In addition, two further species have been suggested based on distinct DNA lineages.
The eastern moa is an extinct species of moa that was endemic to New Zealand.
Pachyornis is an extinct genus of ratites from New Zealand which belonged to the moa family. Like all ratites it was a member of the order Struthioniformes. The Struthioniformes are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. This genus contains three species, and are part of the Anomalopteryginae or lesser moa subfamily. Pachyornis moa were the stoutest and most heavy-legged genus of the family, the most notable species being Pachyornis elephantopus - the heavy-footed moa. They were generally similar to the eastern moa or the broad-billed moa of the genus Euryapteryx, but differed in having a pointed bill and being more heavyset in general. At least one species is assumed to have had a crest of long feathers on its head. The species became rapidly extinct following human colonization of New Zealand, with the possible exception of P. australis, which may have already been extinct by then - although the most recent moa skeleton ever described is a partial skeleton of this species, radiocarbon dated to between 1396 and 1442.
Eyles's harrier is an extinct bird of prey that was endemic to New Zealand.
The crested moa is an extinct species of moa. It is one of the 9 known species of moa to have existed.
The heavy-footed moa is a species of moa from the lesser moa family. The heavy-footed moa was widespread only in the South Island of New Zealand, and its habitat was the lowlands. The moa were ratites, flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas in which they have been found.
The North Island giant moa is an extinct moa in the genus Dinornis, known in Māori as kuranui. Even though it might have walked with a lowered posture, standing upright, it would have been the tallest bird ever to exist, with a height estimated up to 3.6 metres (12 ft).
The South Island giant moa is an extinct species of moa in the genus Dinornis, known in Māori by the name moa nunui. It was one of the tallest-known bird species to walk the Earth, exceeded in weight only by the heavier but shorter elephant bird of Madagascar.
Mantell's moa also known as Mappin's moa is an extinct species of moa from the North Island of New Zealand. Its habitat was the lowlands. The moa were ratites, flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of the ratites is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas that they have been found in.
The New Zealand goose is a bird of the extinct genus Cnemiornis of the family Anatidae, subfamily Anserinae. The genus, endemic to New Zealand, consisted of two species: the North Island goose, C. gracilis and the South Island goose C. calcitrans.
Proapteryx micromeros is an extinct kiwi known from the 16–19 million-year-old early Miocene sediments of the St Bathans Fauna of Otago, New Zealand.
The St Bathans fauna is found in the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group of Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It comprises a suite of fossilised prehistoric animals from the late Early Miocene (Altonian) period, with an age range of 19–16 million years ago.
Notopalaeognathae is a clade that contains the order Rheiformes (rheas), the clade Novaeratitae, and the clade Dinocrypturi. The exact relationships of this group, including its recently extinct members, have only recently been uncovered. The two lineages endemic to New Zealand, the kiwis and the extinct moas, are not each other's closest relatives: the moas are most closely related to the Neotropical tinamous, and the kiwis are sister to the extinct elephant birds of Madagascar, with kiwis and elephant birds together sister to the cassowaries and emu of New Guinea and Australia. The South American rheas are either sister to all other notopalaeognaths or sister to Novaeratitae. The sister group to Notopalaeognathae is Struthionidae.
The lesser moa were a family in the moa order Dinornithiformes. About two-thirds of all moa species are in the lesser moa family. The moa were ratites from New Zealand. Ratites are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of the ratites is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas that they have been found in.
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