Porzana sp. nov. ‘Kauai’
Great Kauai crake, Large Kauai rail
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Porzana undescribed species 2 (Tyrberg, 2009:80); Large Kaua‘i Rail (Porzana sp.) (Harmon et al., 2026)
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 5145–6740yBP (Harmon et al., 2026)
Distribution & Habitat
Kauai, Hawaiian Islands, USA
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
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
Milberg, Per and Tyrberg, Tommy. (1993). Naïve birds and noble savages - a review of man-caused prehistoric extinctions of island birds. Ecography 16: 229-250.
Olson, S. L., and H. F. James. 1982. Prodromus of the Fossil Avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 365: 1-59.
Olson, S. L., and H. F. James. 1984. The Role of Polynesians in the Extinction of the Avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands. In Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, edited by P. S. Martin and R. G. Klein, 768–780. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Olson, Storrs L. and James, Helen F. (1991). Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part 1. Non-Passeriformes. Ornithological Monographs 45: 1-88.
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)]
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.