Vitirallus watlingi Worthy, 2004:303
Viti Levu rail
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Vittirallus watlingi Worthy, 2004:303 (used by Hume & Walters, 2012:112)
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Pleistocene or Holocene
Distribution & Habitat
Viti Levu, Fiji
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Holotype: NMNZ S.37543 (partial mandible; for a photo see [url=http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=397828]here[/url].
Type locality: "terminal chamber of Qara-ni-vokai, Voli Voli Cave, Viti Levu, Fiji"
Paratypes:
NMNZ S.37138 (107 bones)
NMNZ S.37543 (premaxilla)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Worthy, Trevor H. (2004). The fossil rails (Aves: Rallidae) of Fiji with descriptions of a new genus and species. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 34(3): 295-314.
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.
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)]
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.