North Island giant moa
North Island giant moa | |
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Skeleton, Natural History Museum of London | |
Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Superorder: | Paleognathae |
Order: | Struthioniformes |
Family: | Dinornithidae |
Genus: | Dinornis |
Species: | D. novaezealandiae (Owen 1843) |
Binomial name | |
Dinornis novaezealandiae (Owen 1843)[1] | |
Synonyms | |
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The North Island giant moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae) is one of two extinct moa in the genus Dinornis.
Taxonomy
![](../I/m/Dinornis_novaezealandiae.png)
Restoration by Frohawk
![](../I/m/Dinornis_giganteus.jpg)
Skull at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
It is a ratite and a member of the order Struthioniformes. The Struthioniformes are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas where they have been found.[2]
Habitat
This particular moa lived on the North Island of New Zealand, and lived in the lowlands (shrublands, grasslands, dunelands, and forests).[2]
Footnotes
References
- Brands, Sheila (Aug 14, 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Genus Dinornis". Project: The Taxonomicon. Retrieved Feb 4, 2009.
- Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Moas". In Hutchins, Michael. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2 ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 95–98. ISBN 0-7876-5784-0.
- Lydekker, Richard (1891). Catalogue of the fossil birds in the British Museum (Natural History). London: British Museum. p. 224. Check date values in:
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External links
- North Island Giant Moa. Dinornis Novaezealandiae. by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
- Holotypes of Dinornis Novaezealandiae in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa