Talpanas lippa Olson & James, 2009:48
Maha’ulepu duck, Kaua'i mole duck, Kaua'i small-eyed duck (proposed)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: aff. Anas sp. Burney et al. 2001:628
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 5145–6740yBP (Harmon et al., 2026); c.3490-3305 yBP
Distribution & Habitat
Kauai, Hawaiian Islands, USA
Biology & Ecology
The Maha’ulepu duck was extremely unusual amongst waterfowl because it showed adaptations to a nocturnal and terrestrial lifestyle, much like the Kiwi of New Zealand (Witmer et al., 2017).
Hypodigm
Holotype: USNM 535683 ("complete neurocranium lacking quadratojugals and any elements of the palate and with the surface of the basitemporal plate eroded away")
Type locality: "Hawaiian Islands, Kauai, south coast. Maha'ulepu/Pa'a district, Makauwahi Cave, 5 km ESE of the town of Koloa, 21˚53'17.5'' N 159˚25' 08.5''W."
Paratypes:
USNM 535684 ("fused vomer and right and left palatine bones (broken and repaired)")
USNM 535685 ("right postdentary portion of mandible")
USNM 535688 ("fragment of left innominate with antitrochanter and portion of acetabulum")
USNM 535689 ("proximal end of right tibiotarsus")
USNM 535690 ("right tarsometatarsus")
USNM 535691 ("left tarsometatarsus")
USNM 535686 ("right innominate lacking most of pubis and anterior margin of ilium")
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Iwaniuk, Andrew N., Olson, Storrs L., and James, Helen F. (2009). Extraordinary cranial specialization in a new genus of extinct duck (Aves: Anseriformes) from Kauai, Hawaiian Islands. Zootaxa 2296: 47-67.*
* Also available from: http://si-pddr.si.edu/handle/10088/8700
Other references:
Burney, David A. et al. (2001). Fossil evidence for a diverse biota from Kaua'i and its transformation since human arrival. Ecological Monographs 71(4): 615-641.
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
Harmon, Kristen C., Price, Melissa R. and Winter, Kawika B. (2026). The “regime shift extinctions” hypothesis and mass
extinction of waterbirds in Hawaiʻi. Ecosphere 17: e70445. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70445
Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser. 544 pp.
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)]
Olson, S. L., and H. F. James. (1982). Prodromus of the Fossil Avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 365: 1-59.
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)]
Witmer, Lawrence M., Ridgely, Ryan C., James, Helen F., Olson, Storrs L. and Iwaniuk, Andrew N. (2017). The remarkable, recently extinct “mole-duck” Talpanas lippa (Aves: Anseriformes) from Kauai, Hawaii: behavioral implications of its neuroanatomy and skull morphology. The FASEB Journal vol. 31 no. 1 Supplement 251.6. [Abstract]
http://www.anatomy.org/uploads/4/6/5/1/46517773/2017_annual_meeting_agenda.pdf