Hypotaenidia dieffenbachii (Gray, 1843:197)
Dieffenbach’s rail, Meriki or Moeriki (Māori)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
A complete synonymy taken from (Checklist Committee (OSNZ), 2022:56):
Rallus Dieffenbachii G.R. Gray, 1843: in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 197 – Chatham Islands.; Ocydromus Dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(8): 14, pl. 15.; Hypotaenidia dieffenbachi (G.R. Gray); Bonaparte 1856, Compt. Rend. Séa. Acad. Sci., Paris 43: 599. Unjustified emendation.; Hypotaenidia dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 238.; Rallus Dieffenbachi G.R. Gray; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 75. Unjustified emendation.; 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, pl. 15. In part.; Nesolimnas dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); Buller 1905, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 1: 44.; Rallus philippensis dieffenbachii G.R. Gray; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 119.; Gallirallus dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 132, 178.
Treated under the genus Gallirallus by (Checklist Committee (OSNZ), 2022:56).
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 1840 (Hutton, 1872; Fleming, 1939; Checklist Committee (OSNZ), 2022:56)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution
Chatham Islands, New Zealand
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Only known from the holotype.
Media
Above: Rallus philipensis and Rallus dieffenbachii. Plate 21. From the book A history of the birds of New Zealand., 1873, by Johannes Keulemans. Te Papa (RB001176/021a)
Above: Dieffenbach's Rail / Mehoriki. Gallirallus dieffenbachii. From the series: Extinct Birds of New Zealand., circa 2004, Masterton, by Paul Martinson. Purchased 2006. © Te Papa. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Te Papa (2006-0010-1/45)
References
Original scientific description:
Gray, G. R. (1843). In: Dieffenbach, E. (ed.). Travels in New Zealand; with contributions to the geography, geology, botany, and natural history of that country, wolume 2. London: John Murray.
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. Nov. Zool. 3: 260-271.
BirdLife International. (2012). Hypotaenidia dieffenbachii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 05 July 2015.
BirdLife International. (2016). Hypotaenidia dieffenbachii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22692455A93354540. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692455A93354540.en. Downloaded on 27 June 2021.
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.
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.
Buller, W. L. (1887-88). A history of the birds of New Zealand. 2 volumes. London: Taylor & Francis.
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. 180-181, 356]
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. 56]
Day, David. (1981). The Doomsday Book of Animals: A Natural History of Vanished Species. New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International.
FLEMING, C. A., 1939: Birds of the Chatham Islands. Emu 38: 330-413, 492-509.
Fuller, Errol. (2000). Extinct birds, revised edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser.
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.
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Millener PR (1999) The history of the Chatham Islands’ bird fauna of the last 7000 years—a chronicle of change and extinction. In Olson SL, ed., Avian Paleontology at the Close of the 20th Century: Proceedings of the 4th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, Washington DC ., 4–7 June 1996. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 89, 85–109.
Olson, Storrs L. (1973). A classification of the Rallidae. Wilson Bulletin 85: 381-416.
Olson, S.L. 1975. A review of the extinct rails of the New Zealand region (Aves: Rallidae). Records of the National Museum of New Zealand 1: 63-79.
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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.
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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)]
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Travers, H. H. and Travers, W. T. L. (1872). On the birds of the Chatham Islands, with introductory remarks on the avifauna and flora of the islands in their relation to those of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 5: 212-222.
Trewick, S. A. (1997a). Sympatric flightless rails Gallirallus dieffenbachii and G. modestus on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand; morphometrics and alternative evolutionary scenarios. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 27: 451-464.
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