Cabalus modestus (Hutton, 1872:247)
Chatham rail, Chatham Islands rail, Chatham Island rail, Mātirakahu (Māori)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
A complete synonymy taken from (Checklist Committee (OSNZ), 2022:57-58):
Rallus modestus Hutton, 1872: Ibis 2 (3rd series): 247 – Mangere Island, Chatham Islands.; Rallus dieffenbachii G.R. Gray; Buller 1872 (Dec.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 3): 179. In part.; Cabalus dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); Sharpe 1875, Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds – 1 (Appendix): 29. In part.; Cabalus modestus (Hutton); Buller 1888 (Nov.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 2 (part 10): 123.; Ocydromus pygmaeus Forbes, 1892: Nature 46: 252 – Chatham Islands.; Rallus modestus Hutton; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 119.; Gallirallus modestus (Hutton); Trewick 1997, Journ. Royal Soc. N.Z. 27: 452.; Cabalus modestus (Hutton); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 132, 178.
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 1893 (Tennyson & Martinson, 2007); 1895 (Kittelberger et al., 2024); 1895-1900 (Greenway, 1967); 1900 (Fleming, 1939)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution
Chatham Islands (Chatham, Mangere and Pitt Islands only), New Zealand
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
There are 34 preserved specimens worldwide (Tennyson & Martinson, 2006). However, Tennyson & Bartle (2008:196) could only trace the syntype in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa collection.
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa:
Media
Above: Chatham Island Rail, Cabalus modestus (Hutton, 1872), collected January 1872, Mangere Island (Pitt Island), New Zealand. Purchased 1923. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (OR.001371; syntype)
Above: Chatham Island Rail, Cabalus modestus (Hutton, 1872), collected January 1872, Mangere Island (Pitt Island), New Zealand. Purchased 1923. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (OR.001371; syntype)
Above: Chatham Island Rail, Cabalus modestus (Hutton, 1872), collected January 1872, Mangere Island (Pitt Island), New Zealand. Purchased 1923. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (OR.001371; syntype)
Above: Hutton's Rail / Matirakahu. Cabalus modestus. From the series: Extinct Birds of New Zealand., 2003, Masterton, by Paul Martinson. Purchased 2006. © Te Papa. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Te Papa (2006-0010-1/43)
References
Original scientific description:
Hutton, F. W. (1872). Notes on some birds from the Chatham Islands, collected by H. H. Travers, Esq.; with descriptions of two new species. Ibis 2(3): 243-250.
Other references:
Andrews, C. W. (1896). On the extinct birds of the Chatham Islands. Part II. The Osteology of Palaeolimnas chathamensis and Nesolimnas (gen. nov.) dieffenbachii. Novitates Zoologicae 3: 260-271.
BirdLife International. (2012). Cabalus modestus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 21 May 2013.
BirdLife International. 2016. Cabalus modestus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22728873A94999473. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22728873A94999473.en. Accessed on 30 June 2022.
Brooks, T. 2000. Extinct species. In: BirdLife International (ed.), Threatened Birds of the World, pp. 701-708. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona and Cambridge, U.K.
Brown, A. F., Lawrie, Y., Shannon, T. J., Collinson, J. M., Kirwan, G. M., Kirkconnell, A., et al. (2022). First genetic data for the critically endangered Cuban endemic Zapata Rail Cyanolimnas cerverai, and the taxonomic implications. J. Ornithol. 163, 945–952. doi: 10.1007/s10336-022-02004-0
Buller, W. L. (1873). Notes on the Little Bittern of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 6: 119-121, pl. 21.
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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. 183-184, 355]
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. 57-58]
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Forbes, Henry O. (1892). Aphanapteryx and other remains in the Chatham Islands. Nature 46(1185): 252-253.
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