Bush moa

Bush moa; Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene
	skeleton
Conservation status
	Extinct
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Infraclass:	Palaeognathae
Order:	†Dinornithiformes
Family:	†Emeidae
Genus:	†Anomalopteryx; Reichenbach 1852
Species:	†A. didiformis
Binomial name
	†Anomalopteryx didiformis; (Owen 1844) Reichenbach 1853
Synonyms
	Dinornis didiformis Owen, 1844; Anomalopteryx didiformis (Owen 1844) Lydekker 1891; Anomalornis didiformis (Owen 1844) Hutton 1897; Dinornis dromioides Owen, 1846 non Oliver 1930; Anomalopteryx dromaeoides (Owen 1846) Lydekker 1891; Dinornis parvus Owen, 1883; Anomalopteryx parva (Owen 1883) Lydekker 1891; Dinornis oweni Haast, 1886; Anomalornis owenii (Haast 1886) Hutton 1897; Pachyornis owenii (Haast 1886) Archey 1941; Anomalopteryx oweni (Haast 1886) Oliver 1949; Anomalopteryx antiquus Hutton, 1892 (may be a valid predecessor species); Anomalopteryx fortis Hutton, 1893; Anomalornis gracilis Hutton 1897 non Dinornis gracilis Owen 1854; Anomalornis (Hutton, 1897); Graya (Bonaparte, 1956);

Anomalopteryx didiformis is an extinct flightless bird colloquially known as the lesser moa, little bush moa, or bush moa. It was the smallest known species of moa, only slightly taller than a turkey. A slender bird, it weighed around 30 kilograms (66 lb).^[3] It inhabited much of the North Island and small sections of the South Island of New Zealand. It habitated the dense lowland conifer, broad-leafed Southern beech forests and scrubland.^[3]^[4]

Skeleton

It possessed a sturdy, sharp-edged beak, suggesting that its diet was made up of twigs and other tough plant material.^[3]

Native predators included the Haast's eagle and Eyles' harrier.^[3] The species went extinct alongside other native New Zealand wildlife around 500-600 years ago, following the arrival and proliferation of the Maori people in New Zealand, as well as the introduction of Polynesian dogs.^[3]

As with all moa, they have with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate.^[4] The most complete remains, a partially articulated skeleton with substantial mummified tissue and feathers were discovered in 1980 in Lake Echo Valley, east of Te Anau, Southland.^[5] It is now in the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, in Invercargill. Anomalopteryx fossils made up the bulk of moa fossils discovered in a swamp in 1912 in Clevedon.^[6]

Scientists at Harvard University assembled the first nearly complete genome of the species from toe bones.^[7]^[8] Thus bringing the species a step closer to being "resurrected" in the future.^[7]

Footnotes[]

^ Brands, S. (2008)
^ B.J. Gill; B.D. Bell; G.K. Chambers; D.G. Medway; R.L. Palma; R.P. Scofield; A.J.D. Tennyson & T.H. Worthy (2010). Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica (PDF) (4th ed.). Wellington, NZ: Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-1-877385-59-9.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Little bush moa | New Zealand Birds Online". nzbirdsonline.org.nz. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)
^ Forrest, R. M. (1987). "A partially mummified skeleton of Anomalopteryx didiformis from Southland". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Royal Society of New Zealand. 17 (4): 399–408. doi:10.1080/03036758.1987.10426481. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
^ Gill, B.J. (2003). "HISTORICAL MOA BONE COLLECTIONS (AVES: DINORNITHIFORMES) AT AUCKLAND MUSEUM—CLEVEDON AND KIA ORA". Records of the Auckland Museum. 40: 39–53. ISSN 1174-9202.
^ ^a ^b "Scientists reconstruct the genome of a moa, a bird extinct for 700 years". STAT (in American English). 27 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
^ "Anomalopteryx didiformis (ID 124) - Genome - NCBI".

References[]

Brands, Sheila (14 August 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Genus Anomalopteryx". Project: The Taxonomicon. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Moas". In Hutchins, Michael (ed.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Vol. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2 ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 95–98. ISBN 0-7876-5784-0.

External links[]

Little Bush Moa. Anomalopteryx didiformis. by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006

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[1] Brands, S. (2008)

[2] B.J. Gill; B.D. Bell; G.K. Chambers; D.G. Medway; R.L. Palma; R.P. Scofield; A.J.D. Tennyson & T.H. Worthy (2010). Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica (PDF) (4th ed.). Wellington, NZ: Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-1-877385-59-9.

[:0-3] "Little bush moa | New Zealand Birds Online". nzbirdsonline.org.nz. Retrieved 19 February 2021.

[Davies-4] Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)

[5] Forrest, R. M. (1987). "A partially mummified skeleton of Anomalopteryx didiformis from Southland". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Royal Society of New Zealand. 17 (4): 399–408. doi:10.1080/03036758.1987.10426481. Retrieved 8 July 2015.

[6] Gill, B.J. (2003). "HISTORICAL MOA BONE COLLECTIONS (AVES: DINORNITHIFORMES) AT AUCKLAND MUSEUM—CLEVEDON AND KIA ORA". Records of the Auckland Museum. 40: 39–53. ISSN 1174-9202.

[:1-7] "Scientists reconstruct the genome of a moa, a bird extinct for 700 years". STAT (in American English). 27 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2021.

[8] "Anomalopteryx didiformis (ID 124) - Genome - NCBI".

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