Hodgens' Waterhen

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Hodgens' Waterhen
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Gallinula
Species: G. hodgenorum
Binomial name
Gallinula hodgenorum
Olson, 1986
Synonyms

The Hodgens' Waterhen [1] (Gallinula hodgenorum) is an extinct rail species from New Zealand. Its name commedorates the Hodgen brothers who were owners of the Pyramid Valley swamp where the holotype was discovered.

The Hodgens' Waterhen was closely related to the Black-tailed Native-hen (Gallinula ventralis) and the Tasmanian Native-hen (Gallinula mortierii). The species was first described by Ron Scarlett as Rallus hodgeni in 1955. Storrs L. Olson transferred it into the genus Gallinula in 1975 and changed its specific epithet to hodgenorum in 1986. The Hodgens' Waterhen is only known from subfossil material of which the youngest Maori midden record is from the 18th century. Hundreds of bones unearthed at Pyramid Valley on South Island, at Lake Poukawa on North Island and several other sites indicating that it was once widespread in New Zealand except on the Chatham Islands. The Hodgens' Waterhen reached a weight of 280 g and its wings were so reduced that it was not able to fly. This waterhen occupied a white range of habitats like open forests or grassland on river shores. The main reasons for its extinction are possible the predation by the Pacific rat and the hunting by human settlers.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ The spelling is variously Hodgen's Waterhen or Hodgens' Waterhen. Current sources like Lost World of the Moa (2002) or Extinct birds of New Zealand (2006) are using the latter spelling.

[edit] References

  • A. Tennyson und P. Martinson: Extinct birds of New Zealand. Te Papa Press, 2006, ISBN 0-909010-21-8
  • Trevor H. Worthy & Richard N. Holdaway: The Lost World of the Moa. Prehistoric Life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2002. ISBN 0-253-34034-9
  • R. N. Holdaway, T. H. Worthy: A reappraisal of the late Quaternary fossil vertebrates of Pyramid Valley Swamp, North Canterbury, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 1997, Vol. 24: 69-121 0301-4223/2401-069. ([PDF fulltext])
  • Richard N. Holdaway, Trevor H. Worthy, Alan J. T. Tennyson: A working list of breeding bird species of the New Zealand region at first human contact. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2001, Vol. 28: 119-187 PDF fulltext
  • Walter E. Boles: A New Flightless Gallinule (Aves: Rallidae: Gallinula) from the Oligo-Miocene of Riversleigh, Northwestern Queensland, Australia. Records of the Australian Museum (2005) Vol. 57: 179?190. ISSN 0067-1975 PDF fulltext
  • R. N. Holdaway : New Zealand’s pre-human avifauna and its vulnerability 1989 PDF fulltext
  • Olson, S. L. More on the Name Rallus hodgenorum. PDF fulltext
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