North Island giant moa
| North Island giant moa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeleton, Natural History Museum of London | |
| 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][2] | |
| Synonyms | |
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List
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The North Island giant moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae) is one of two extinct moa in the genus Dinornis.
Taxonomy
Restoration by Frohawk
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.[3]
Habitat
This particular moa lived on the North Island of New Zealand, and lived in the lowlands (shrublands, grasslands, dunelands, and forests).[3]
Footnotes
- ↑ Brands, S. (2008)
- ↑ Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand (2010). "Checklist-of-Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands and the Ross Dependancy Antarctica" (PDF). Te Papa Press. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
- 1 2 Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)
References
- Brands, Sheila (Aug 14, 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Genus Dinornis". Project: The Taxonomicon. Retrieved 4 February 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. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
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
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