Mangaia rail

Mangaia rail
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Gallirallus
Species: G. ripleyi
Binomial name
Gallirallus ripleyi
Steadman, 1986[1]

The Mangaia rail (Gallirallus ripleyi) is an extinct species of flightless bird in the Rallidae, or rail family.

History

The rail was described in 1986 from subfossil bones of late Holocene age found in caves on the island of Mangaia, in the southern Cook Islands of West Polynesia. The cause of its extinction is ascribed to a combination of predation and habitat alteration following human settlement of the island and the introduction of exotic mammals.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Steadman, D. W. (1986). "Two new species of rails (Aves: Rallidae) from Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands.". Pacific Science 40 (1): 27–43.