Centrornis majori Andrews, 1897
Malagasy sheldgoose, Greater Madagascan sheldgoose
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 17,370 ± 90 yr BP (Burney et al. 2004)
Distribution & Habitat
Madagascar
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Andrews, C. W. (1897). On some fossil remains of carinate birds from Central Madagascar. Ibis 7(3): 343-359.
Other references:
Brodkorb, Pierce. (1964). Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 2 (Anseriformes through Galliformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 8: 195-335.
Burney, D.A., Pigott Burney, L., Godfrey, L.R., Jungers, W.L., Goodman, S.M., Wright, H.T. and Jull, A.J.T. (2004). A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar. Journal of Human Evolution 47: 25-63.
Faurby, Søren, Matthews, Tom J., Triantis, Kostas A. and Sayol, Ferran. (2026). Quantifying the unrecorded loss of avian phylogenetic diversity. Ecography 2026: e08267. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecog.08267
Goodman, S. M. (1999). Holocene bird subfossils from the sites of Ampasambazimba, Antsirabe and Ampoza, Madagascar:Changes in the avifauna of south central Madagascar over the past few millennia. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 3071-3083. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.
Goodman, Steven M. (1999). Holocene bird subfossils from the sites of Ampasambazimba, Antsirabe and Ampoza, Madagascar: Changes in the avifauna of south central Madagascar over the past few millennia, pp. 3071-3083. In: Adams, N. J. and Slotow, R. H. (eds.). Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.
Grandidier, G. (1902). Observations sur les lémuriens disparus de Madagascar. Collections Alluaud, Gaubert, Grandidier. Bulletin du Muséum d’Histoire naturelle, Paris 7:587-592.
Lambrecht, Kàlmàn. (1933). Handbuch der Palaeornithologie. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin. 1024 pp.
Livezey, Bradley C. (1997). A phylogenetic classification of waterfowl (Aves: Anseriformes), including selected fossil species. Annals of Carnegie Museum 66: 455-494.
Matthews, Thomas J., Triantis, Kostas A., Wayman, Joseph P., Martin, Thomas E., Hume, Julian P., Cardoso, Pedro, Faurby, Søren, Mendenhall, Chase D., Dufour, Paul, Rigal, François, Cooke, Rob, Whittaker, Robert J., Pigot, Alex L., Thébaud, Christophe, Jørgensen, Maria Wagner, Benavides, Eva, Soares, Filipa C., Ulrich, Werner, Kubota, Yasuhiro, Sadler, Jon P., Tobias, Joseph A. and Sayol, Ferran. (2024). The global loss of avian functional and phylogenetic diversity from anthropogenic extinctions. Science 386(6717): 55-60. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk7898 [Supplementary Materials; Dryad dataset; Zenodo codeset]
Matthews, Thomas J., Wayman, Joseph P., Cardoso, Pedro, Sayol, Ferran, Hume, Julian P., Ulrich, Werner, Tobias, Joseph A., Soares, Filipa C., Thébaud, Christophe, Martin, Thomas E. and Triantis, Kostas A. (2022). Threatened and extinct island endemic birds of the world: Distribution, threats and functional diversity. Journal of Biogeography 49(11): 1920-1940. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14474 [Appendix S1 (.docx); Appendix S2 (.pdf)]
Rasolofomanana, Nadia, Ranivoharimanana, Lovasoa, Schwartz, Joshua, Lenczewski, Melissa and Samonds, Karen E. (2025). Factors influencing the preservation of subfossil vertebrates from Tsaramody, Madagascar and the potential role of hot springs. Madamines 1: 27 pp.
Rothschild, Lionel Walter. (1907). Extinct birds: an attempt to write in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times, that is within the last six or seven hundred years: to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction. London: Hutchinson & Co. XXIX + 243 pp. [p. 95-96]
Samonds, Karen E. et al. (2019). A new late Pleistocene subfossil site (Tsaramody, Sambaina basin, central Madagascar) with implications for the chronology of habitat and megafaunal community change on Madagascar’s Central Highlands. Journal of Quaternary Science 34(6): 379-392. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3096
Sayol, Ferran, Steinbauer, Manuel J., Blackburn, Tim M., Antonelli, Alexandre and Faurby, Søren. (2020). Anthropogenic extinctions conceal widespread evolution of flightlessness in birds. Science Advances 6(49): eabb6095. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6095 [Supplementary Material (Data File S1)]
Tyrberg, Tommy. (2009). Holocene avian extinctions, pp. 63-106. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK & New York, USA: Oxford University Press. xii + 352 pp.
Young, H. Glyn. (1996). The distribution and origins of wildfowl (Anatidae) of western Indian Ocean islands. Biogeographie de Madagascar 1996: 363-367.
Young, H. Glyn, Tonge, Simon J. and Hume, Julian Pender. (1996). Review of Holocene wildfowl extinctions. Wildfowl 47: 167-181.