Nycticorax olsoni Bourne, Ashmole & Simmons, 2003:46

Ascension Island night heron

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Conservation Status

Extinct

Last record: subfossil

Distribution

Ascension Island, South Atlantic

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Holotype: NHMRN S/1999.1.1 (complete right femur)

Type locality: "on the lava floor just beyond the main chamber of Chapel Grotto, Ascension, South Atlantic."

Paratypes:

NHMRN S/1999.1.10

NHMRN S/1999.1.13

NHMRN S/1999.1.16

USNM 209519

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Bourne W. P., Ashmole N. P. and Simmons K. L. (2003). A new subfossil Night Heron and a new genus for the extinct Rail from Ascension Island, central tropical Atlantic Ocean. ARDEA 91(1): 45-51.

Other references:

Ashmole NP and Ashmole MJ (1997) The land fauna of Ascension Island: new data from caves and lava flows, and a reconstruction of the prehistoric ecosystem. Journal of Biogeography 24, 549–589.

Fuller, Errol. (1999). The Great Auk. Southborough, Kent: Errol Fuller Publications.

Gaskell, Jeremy. (2001). Who Killed the Great Auk? Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hume, Julian Pender. (In Press, 2023). Osteological and historical data on extinct island night herons (Aves: Ardeidae), with special reference to Ascension Island, the Mascarenes and Bonin Islands. Geobios. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2023.01.009

Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser. 544 pp.

Olson, Storrs L. (1977). Additional notes on subfossil bird remains from Ascension Island. Ibis 119: 37-43.

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.

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