Snipe-rail
Snipe-rail Temporal range: Late Holocene | |
---|---|
Holotype from Auckland Museum. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Gruiformes |
Family: | Rallidae |
Genus: | †Capellirallus Falla, 1954 |
Species: | †C. karamu |
Binomial name | |
†Capellirallus karamu Falla, 1954[1] |
The snipe-rail (Capellirallus karamu) is an extinct flightless rail endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The species' name is derived from the Karamu Cave[2] 21 kilometres (13 mi) from Hamilton[2] where the holotype was discovered in 1954.[2]
Description
The snipe-rail was a relatively small rail[3] which had a bill of about 7 cm, very long in proportion to its body size.[3] Its weight was about 240 g.[3] The type material consists of an incomplete skeleton, including vertebrae, a pelvis, and a hind limb.[2] Since the discovery of these remains, many complete skeletons[2] consisting of hundreds of bones[3] have been unearthed on different sites in the North Island.[3] Its evolutionary relationships to other rail species are unclear [3] but the structure of its bones suggests that it might have been a relative of the likewise extinct Chatham rail.[2][3] Relative to its body size, the snipe-rail had the smallest wings of all known rail species.[2][3] It also had a disproportionately large tarsometatarsus.[3]
Habitat and ecology
The bone findings were in the western areas of the North Island[3] where wetter, closed-canopy rainforests prevailed.[3] The bird's long bill suggests that it was able to forage by probing in a similar manner to kiwi.[3]
Extinction
The exact date of the snipe-rail's extinction is unknown, but it is supposed that the decline began in the 13th century,[3] when the Kiori/Polynesian rat became widespread in New Zealand.[3][4]
References
- ^ Falla, R. A. (1954). "A New Rail from Cave Deposits in the North Island of New Zealand". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 4: 241–243. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42906070. Wikidata Q58676748.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ripley, S. D. (1977): Rails of the World - A Monograph of the Family Rallidae. Boston. ISBN 0-87474-804-6
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Tennyson, A. & Martinson, P. (2006): Extinct Birds of New Zealand; Te Papa Press, Wellington, New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-909010-21-8
- ^ Janet M. Wilmshurst, Atholl J. Anderson, Thomas F. G. Higham, and Trevor H. Worthy (2008). Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, pp. 7676-7680.
Further reading
- Worthy, Trevor H. & Holdaway, Richard N. : The Lost World of the Moa. Prehistoric Life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2002. ISBN 0-253-34034-9
- Scarlett, Ron (1970): The genus Capellirallus In: Notornis (1970) :pp. 303–319. Quarterly Journal of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand.
External links
- Illustration of a snipe-rail
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birds
- Bellbird (korimako)
- Black-billed gull (tarāpuka)
- Brown creeper (pipipi)
- Brown teal (pāteke)
- Buff-banded rail (moho-pererū)
- Dabchick (weweia)
- Double-banded plover (pohowera)
- New Zealand falcon (kārearea)
- Fantail (pīwakawaka)
- Grey warbler (riroriro)
- Grey-faced petrel (ōi)
- Sacred kingfisher (kōtare)
- Long-tailed cuckoo (koekoeā)
- Kererū
- Pipit (pīhoihoi)
- New Zealand dotterel (tūturiwhatu)
- South Island robin
- North Island robin
- New Zealand scaup (pāpango)
- Paradise shelduck (pūtangitangi)
- Pūkeko
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- New Zealand rock wren (pīwauwau)
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- Silvereye (tauhou)
- South Island oystercatcher (tōrea)
- Spotted shag (pārekareka)
- Tomtit (miromiro)
- Tūī
- Variable oystercatcher (tōrea pango)
- White-fronted tern (tara)
- Whitehead (pōpokotea)
- Wrybill (ngutuparore)
birds
- Great spotted kiwi (roroa)
- Little spotted kiwi (kiwi pukupuku)
- North Island brown kiwi (roroa)
- Okarito kiwi (rowi)
- Southern brown kiwi (tokoeka)
- Yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho)
- Kākāpō
- South Island takahē
- Fiordland penguin (tawaki)
- Weka
- Blue penguin (kororā)
endemic birds
(flying)
- Black-fronted tern (tarapiroe)
- Black stilt (kakī)
- Blue duck (whio)
- Fernbird (mātātā)
- Foveaux shag
- Kākā
- Kea
- North Island kōkako
- South Island kōkako
- New Zealand fairy tern (tara-iti)
- New Zealand king shag (kawau tūī)
- New Zealand storm petrel (takahikare)
- Northern royal albatross
- Otago shag (Matapo)
- Orange-fronted parakeet (kākāriki karaka)
- Red-billed gull (tarāpunga)
- North Island saddleback (tīeke)
- South Island saddleback (tīeke)
- Shore plover (tūturuatu)
- Stitchbird (hihi)
- Yellowhead (mōhua)
birds
- Black robin (karure)
- Chatham albatross (toroa)
- Chatham gerygone
- Chatham oystercatcher (tōrea)
- Chatham parakeet
- Chatham petrel (ranguru)
- Chatham pigeon (parea)
- Chatham shag (papua)
- Chatham snipe
- Magenta petrel (tāiko)
- Pitt shag (kawau o rangihaute)
birds
- Antipodean albatross (Toroa)
- Auckland rail
- Auckland shag
- Auckland teal (tētē kākāriki)
- Antipodes parakeet
- Bounty shag
- Campbell albatross
- Campbell shag
- Campbell teal
- Erect-crested penguin (tawaki nana hī)
- Reischek's parakeet
- Snares snipe
- Snares penguin (pokotiwha)
- Subantarctic snipe (tutukiwi)
birds
- South Island piopio (piopio)
- New Zealand bittern (kaoriki)
- New Zealand quail (koreke)
- Huia
- Haast's eagle
- Moa
- North Island adzebill
- South Island adzebill
- Auckland Island merganser (rakiraki maungahuka)
- Chatham Island merganser
- Bushwren (mātuhituhi)
- Long-billed wren
- South Island stout-legged wren
- North Island stout-legged wren
- Lyall's wren
- Chatham kākā
- Laughing owl (whēkau)
- Chatham penguin
- Waitaha penguin
- Eyles' harrier (kērangi)
- North Island little spotted kiwi
- North Island snipe
- South Island snipe
- Forbes's snipe
- Snipe-rail
- Imber's petrel
- Scarlett's shearwater (ōiruki)
- North Island takahē (moho)
- New Zealand goose
- Finsch's duck (manutahora)
- New Zealand owlet-nightjar (ruru hinapō)
- New Zealand musk duck
- New Zealand swan (poūwa)