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Euryapteryx curtus curtus (Owen, 1846:48)

Broad-billed moa, Coastal moa, Stout-legged moa, Moa Hakahaka (Māori)

 

 

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Dinornis curtus Owen, 1846:48; Cela curtus (Owen, 1846:48); Anomalopteryx curta (Owen, 1846:48); Anomalopteryx curtus (Owen, 1846:48); Euryapteryx curtus (Owen, 1846:48); Euryapteryx curtus (Owen, 1846:48); Euryapteryx curtus curtus (Owen, 1846:48); Mesopteryx, species α Parker, 1895:378; Euryapteryx exilis Hutton, 1897:552; Zelornis exilis (Hutton, 1897:552); Euryapteryx tane Oliver, 1949:105

 

A complete synonymy taken from (Checklist Committee (OSNZ), 2022:17):

Dinornis curtus Owen, 1846: Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1846(14): 48 – North Island.; Cela curtus (Owen); Reichenbach 1850, Avium Syst. Nat.: 30.; Anomalopteryx curta (Owen); Lydekker 1891, Cat. Fossil Birds Brit. Museum: 46. Unjustified emendation.; Anomalopteryx curtus (Owen); Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 46.; Euryapteryx curtus (Owen); Archey 1941, Bull. Auck. Inst. Museum 1: 60.; Euryapteryx curtus (Owen); Worthy 2005, Tuhinga 16: 57.; Euryapteryx curtus curtus (Owen); Worthy & Scofield 2012, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 39: 131.; Mesopteryx, species α Parker, 1895: Trans. Zool. Soc. London 13(11): 378 – Te Aute, Hawke’s Bay.; Euryapteryx exilis Hutton, 1897: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 29: 552 – Wangaehu, South Taranaki.; Zelornis exilis (Hutton); Oliver 1949, Dom. Mus. Bull. 15: 121.; Euryapteryx tane Oliver, 1949: Dom. Mus. Bull. 15: 105 – Doubtless Bay.

 

Conservation Status

Extinct

Last record: Holocene

 

Distribution

North Island (including Great Barrier Island / Aotea), New Zealand

 

Biology & Ecology

 

 

Hypodigm

 

 

Media

Above: Stout-legged moa. Euryapteryx curtus. From the series: Extinct Birds of New Zealand., 2005, Masterton, by Paul Martinson. Purchased 2006. © Te Papa. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Te Papa (2006-0010-1/24)

 

References

Original scientific description:

Owen, R. (1846) Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 14:48

 

Other references:

Allentoft, Morten E., Bunce, Michael et al. (2010). Highly skewed sex ratios and biased fossil deposition of moa: ancient DNA provides new insight on New Zealand's extinct megafauna. Quaternary Science Reviews 29(5-6): 753-762. [Abstract]

Allentoft, M. E., Scofield, R. P., Oskam, C. L.,Hale, M. L., Holdaway, Richard N. and Bunce, M. (2011). A molecular characterization of a newly discovered megafaunal fossil site in North Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 42(4): 241-256.

Attard, M. R. G., Wilson, L. A. B., Worthy, T. H., Scofield, P., Johnston, P., Parr, W. C. H. and Wroe, S. (2016). Moa diet fits the bill: virtual reconstruction incorporating mummified remains and prediction of biomechanical performance in avian giants. Proc. R. Soc. B 283: 20152043.

Checklist Committee (OSNZ). (2010). Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica (4th ed.). Ornithological Society of New Zealand & Te Papa Press, Wellington. [p. 16]

Checklist Committee (OSNZ). (2022). Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand (5th edition). Ornithological Society of New Zealand Occasional Publication No. 1. Wellington: Ornithological Society of New Zealand. [p. 17]

Gill, B. J. (2022). Thickness histograms of Holocene fossil eggshell fragments indicate diversity and relative abundance of moas (Aves: Dinornithiformes) at North Island sites. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 49(2): 143-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.2021.1970585

Göhlich, Ursula B. (2017). Catalogue of the fossil bird holdings of the Bavarian State Collection of Palaeontology and Geology in Munich. Zitteliana 89: 331-349.

Holdaway, Richard N., Hawke, D. J., Bunce, M. and Allentoft, M. E. (2011). Identification of an optimal sampling position for stable isotopic analysis of bone collagen of extinct moa (Aves: Emeidae). Notornis 58(1): 1-7.

Holdaway, Richard N., Worthy, Trevor H. and Tennyson, Alan J. D. (2001). A working list of breeding bird species of the New Zealand region at first human contact. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 28: 119-187.

Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser.

Huynen L, Gill BJ, Doyle A, Millar CD, Lambert DM. (2014). Identification, Classification, and Growth of Moa Chicks (Aves: Dinornithiformes) from the Genus Euryapteryx. PLoS ONE 9(6): e99929.

Huynen, L. and Lambert, D. M. (2014). Complex Species Status for Extinct Moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) from the Genus Euryapteryx. PLoS ONE 9(3): e90212.

Lambrecht K. 1933. Handbuch der Palaeornithologie. Berlin, Verlag Gebrüder Borntraeger, 1024 p.

McCallum, J., Hall, S., Lissone, I., Anderson, J., Huynen, L. and Lambert, D. M. (2013). Highly Informative Ancient DNA ‘Snippets’ for New Zealand Moa. PLoS ONE 8(1): e50732.

Medway, David G. (1971). Sub-fossil avian remains from the Awakino - Mahoenui area. Notornis 18(3): 218-219.

Miskelly, Colin M., Forsdick, Natalie J., Gill, Brian J., Palma, Ricardo L., Rawlence, Nicolas J. and Tennyson, Alan J. D. (2022). Amendments to the 2010 Checklist of the birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand Occasional Publication No. 2. Wellington: Ornithological Society of New Zealand.

Oskam, Charlotte L. et al. (2012). Ancient DNA analyses of early archaeological sites in New Zealand reveal extreme exploitation of moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) at all life stages. Quaternary Science Reviews 52: 41-48. [Abstract]

Owen, Richard. (1870). On Dinornis (Part XV): Containing a description of the skull, femur, tibia, fibula, and metatarsus of Aptornis defossor, Owen, from near Oamuru, Middle Island, New Zealand; with additional observations on Aptornis otidiformis, on Notornis mantelli, and on Dinornis curtus. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 7: 353-380.

Paulin, C. D. (1973). Sub-fossil avian remains from two limestone caves in North Taranaki. Mauri Ora 1: 95-98.

Robertson, H. A., Baird, K. A., Elliott, G. P., Hitchmough, R. A., McArthur, N. J., Makan, T. D., Miskelly, Colin M., O’Donnell, C. F. J., Sagar, P. M., Scofield, R. P., Taylor, G. A. and Michel, P. (2021). Conservation status of birds in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 36. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 43 pp.

Hugh Robertson, John Dowding, Graeme Elliott, Rod Hitchmough, Colin Miskelly, Colin O’Donnell, Ralph Powlesland, Paul Sagar, Paul Scofield, Graeme Taylor. (2013). Conservation status of New Zealand birds, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 4. 22 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. 205]

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)]

Tennyson AJD and Martinson P (2006) Extinct Birds of New Zealand. Te Papa Press, Wellington.

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.

Wood, J. R. and Wilmshurst, J. M. (2013). Pollen analysis of coprolites reveals dietary details of heavy-footed moa (Pachyornis elephantopus) and coastal moa (Euryapteryx curtus) from Central Otago. N. Z. J. Ecol. 37(1): 151-155. [this article was available online before print in 2012, but was published in 2013]

Worthy, Trevor H. (1987). Sexual dimorphism and temporal variation in the North Island species Euyapteryx curtus (Owen) and Pachyornis mappini Archey. National Museum of N. Z. Records 3(6): 59-70.

Worthy, Trevor H. (1991). An overview of the taxonomy, fossil history, biology and extinction of moas. Proceedings of the Twentieth International Ornithologists Congress, Symposium 6: 555-562.

Worthy, Trevor H. (2000). Two late-Glacial avifaunas from eastern North Island - Te Aute and Wheturau Quarry. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 30(1): 1-26.

Worthy, Trevor H. (2005). Rediscovery of the types of Dinornis curtus Owen and Palapteryx geranoides Owen, with a new synonymy (Aves: Dinornithiformes). Tuhinga, Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongawera 16: 33-43.

Worthy, Trevor H. and Holdaway, Richard N. (2000). Terrestrial fossil vertebrate faunas from inland Hawke's Bay, North Island, New Zealand. Part 1. Records of the Canterbury Museum 14: 89-154.

Worthy TH, Holdaway RH. 2002 Prehistoric life of New Zealand. The lost world of the Moa. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Worthy, T. H. and 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. NZ J. Zoology 39(2): 87-153. [Abstract]

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/9322/euryapteryx-curtus-coastal-moa

 

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