Giant moa

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iDinornis Maximus

Prehistoric

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Superorder:	Paleognathae
Order:	Struthioniformes
Family:	Dinornithidae
Genus:	Dinornis Owen, 1843

Species

North Island Giant Moa, D. novaezelandiae (type)
Slender Moa, D. robustus
Dinornis new lineage A (undescribed taxon)
Dinornis new lineage B (undescribed taxon)

Synonyms

Palapteryx Owen, 1851

The giant moa (Dinornis) is an extinct genus of ratite birds belonging to the moa family. It was native to New Zealand.

Dinornis were among the largest birds that ever lived, standing 3 m (10 ft) tall and weighing 250 kg. Feather remains were reddish brown and hair-like, and apparently covered most of the body except the lower legs and most of the head (plus a small portion of the neck below the head). The feet were large and powerful, and the birds had a long neck that allowed them to reach tall vegetation. Overall, the giant moa probably resembled a heavy ostrich. They filled the same ecological niche as grazing mammals on the continents.

The giant moa, along with other moa species, were wiped out by human colonists who hunted it for food. All taxa in this genus were extinct by 1500 in New Zealand.

[edit] Taxonomy

Three species of Dinornis were long considered valid:

D. giganteus = D. robustus,
D. novaezealandiae,
D. struthioides.

They have recently turned out to be males (struthioides) and females of only two species, one each formerly occurring on New Zealand's North Island (D. novaezealandiae) and South Island (D. robustus) (Huynen et al., 2003; Bunce et al., 2003); the North Island specimens, however, contain 3 distinct genetic lineages and may eventually be classified as new species (Baker et al., 2005).

[edit] References

Baker, Allan J.; Huynen, Leon J.; Haddrath, Oliver; Millar, Craig D. & Lambert, David M. (2005): Reconstructing the tempo and mode of evolution in an extinct clade of birds with ancient DNA: The giant moas of New Zealand. PNAS 102(23): 8257-8262. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0409435102 PDF fulltext Supporting Information
Bunce, Michael; Worthy, Trevor H.; Ford, Tom; Hoppitt, Will; Willerslev, Eske; Drummond, Alexei & Cooper, Alan (2003): Extreme reversed sexual size dimorphism in the extinct New Zealand moa Dinornis. Nature 425(6954): 172-175. DOI:10.1038/nature01871 HTML abstract Supplementary information
Huynen, Leon J.; Millar, Craig D.; Scofield, R. P. & Lambert, David M. (2003): Nuclear DNA sequences detect species limits in ancient moa. Nature 425(6954): 175-178. DOI:10.1038/nature01838 HTML abstract Supplementary information
Owen, Richard (1843): [On the remains of Dinornis, an extinct gigantic struthious bird.] Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1843: 8-10, 144-146.