Megavitiornis altirostris Worthy, 2000:351
Fiji giant megapode, Noble megapode, Deep-billed megapode
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
Viti Levu, Fiji
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Holotype: MNZ S37362 ("right tarsometatarsus and 11 phalanges...of one foot")
Type locality: "Udit Tomo, Wainibuku, Viti Levu...[co-ordinates]"
Paratypes:
Dozens of paratypes were assigned. See (Worthy, 2000:351-353) for a detailed list.
Referred material:
Much material, although surprisingly less than the paratypic, was referred to [i]Megavitiornis altirostris[/i]. See (Worthy, 2000:353) for a detailed list.
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Worthy, Trevor H. (2000). The fossil megapodes (Aves: Megapodiidae) of Fiji with descriptions of a new genus and two new species. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 30(4): 337-364.
Other references:
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
Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser. 544 pp.
Irwin, G., Worthy, Trevor H., Best, S., Hawkins, S., Carpenter, J. and Matararaba, S. (2011). Further Investigations at the Naigani Lapita site (VL 21/5), Fiji: Excavation, Radiocarbon Dating and Palaeofaunal Extinction. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 2: 66-78.
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)]
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)]
Steadman, D.W. (1986) Pacific Science, 40, 17.
Tennyson, Alan J. D. and Bartle, J. A. (2008). Catalogue of type specimens of birds in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Tuhinga 19: 185-207.
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.
Worthy, Trevor H. and Anderson, Atholl. (2009). Results of palaeofaunal research, pp. 41-62. In: Clark, Geoffrey Richard and Anderson, Atoll (eds.). The Early Prehistory of Fiji. Terra Australis 31. Canberra: ANU E Press. 437 pp.
Worthy, Trevor H., Anderson, Atholl J. and Molnar, Ralph E. (1999). Megafaunal expression in a land without mammals – the first fossil faunas from terrestrial deposits in Fiji (Vertebrata: Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves). Senckenbergiana Biologica 79(2): 237-242.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/pacific-migrations/3/4/3
http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=397444
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