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Post by sebbe67 on May 16, 2005 17:15:08 GMT
Réunion Night-Heron Nycticorax duboisi was endemic to Réunion (to France), described by Rothschild based on Dubois' (1674) descriptions of "bitterns or great egrets...they have grey plumage, each feather tipped with white...and the feet green". An incomplete tibiotarsus discovered on the island in 1974 confirms that Réunion did indeed hold an endemic Nycticorax.
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Post by Melanie on May 22, 2005 14:46:06 GMT
 The Night heron can be seen right at the picture |
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Post by another specialist on Jun 6, 2005 6:24:24 GMT
Nycticorax duboisi
(Rothschild) 1907
Holocene of Réunion, w Mascarene Islands, wc Indian Ocean
Primary materials: Type: Distal part left tibiotarsus
Kàlmàn Lambrecht,
Handbuch der Palaeornithologie
1024 p. (1933)
Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin
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Post by another specialist on Jun 8, 2005 7:10:01 GMT
Family/Sub-family ARDEIDAE Species name author Rothschild, 1907 Taxonomic source(s) Rothschild (1907) Summary Réunion Night-heron Nycticorax borbonensis was endemic to Réunion (to France), and is known only from an incomplete tibiotarsus collected by Bertrand Kervazo in the Grottes des Premiers Français in 19741. The only historical record of the species is Dubois' (1674) description of "bitterns or great egrets, large as big capons, but fat and good. They have grey plumage, each feather tipped with white, the neck and beak like a heron and the feet green, made like the feet of the "Poullets d'Inde". This bird lives on fish."1. The specimens are deposited in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris1. * TAXONOMY Rothschild2 described Ardea duboisi based on Dubois' description, but Cowles1 dismisses this name nomen nudum. www.birdlife.net/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=30100&m=0 |
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Post by Melanie on Jun 8, 2005 11:01:01 GMT
 first row, first bird |
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Post by sebbe67 on May 13, 2006 8:59:55 GMT
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Post by Carlos on Jul 6, 2006 16:16:05 GMT
In: Mourer-Chauviré, C. et al. Recent avian extinctions on Réunion (Mascarene Islands) from paleontological and historical sources. Bull B.O.C. 2006 126A
Nycticorax duboisi (Rothschild, 1907), Réunion Night Heron
The description given by Dubois is: 'Bitterns of Great gullets, large as big capons (Gallus gallus) but fat and good (to eat). They have grey plumage, each feather tipped with white, the neck and beak like a heron and the feet green, like the feet of the 'Poullets d'Inde' (Meleagris gallopavo), that lives on fish' (Barré & Barau 1982, our translation). Two probably flightless species of night herons also formerly ocurred in the Mascarenes, on Mauritius (Nycticorax mauritianus) and Rodrigues (N. megacephalus). Unlike these two forms, the proportions of the wing and leg bones of the Réunion heron show that it had flight capabilities quite similar to that of living species.
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Post by Melanie on Nov 22, 2006 6:11:22 GMT
Genus Nycticorax Forster
Megaphoyx Hachisuka 1937b: 148 [type by original designation, Ardea megacephala
Milne-Edwards, 1874].
Each of the three Mascarene islands sustained an extinct species
of Nycticorax. The first of these species was described
from Rodrigues by Milne-Edwards (1874) under the name
Ardea megacephala. Giinther and Newton (1879) showed that
the Rodrigues heron belonged in the genus Nycticorax and that,
although its size was not very different from a large modern N.
nycticorax (Linnaeus), its wing bones were proportionally
shorter and its femur, tarsometatarsus, and pedal phalanges
proportionally longer. Actually, when compared with typical
N. nycticorax nycticorax, the wings are not very short, but the
femora, tibiotarsi, and tarsometatarsi are wider, longer, and
more robust (Cowles, 1987). Newton and Gadow (1893) described
a second, Mauritian species, Butorides mauritianus,
which is smaller than N. megacephalus, and then Rothschild
(1907) described a third species, from Reunion, under the name
of Ardea duboisi. Rothschild placed the three species in the genus
Ardea but wrote (1907:115): "From the short, stout legs
and general build, I am inclined to think that all three of these
Herons belong to the genus Nycticorax." Later, other authors
(Lambrecht, 1933; Hachisuka, 1953; Brodkorb, 1963) placed
the three species in different genera, and it was Cowles (1987)
who first formally united them in the genus Nycticorax.
Nycticorax duboisi (Rothschild, 1907), new combination
Reunion Night Heron
FIGURE 4a-h
"Butors ou Grands Gauziers" Dubois, 1674:169.
Ardea duboisi Rothschild, 1907:114 [based on birds described by Dubois
(1674) from Bourbon (= Reunion Island)].
Megaphoyx duboisi.—Hachisuka, 1953:175.
Nycticorax n. sp. Cowles, 1987:94.
Nycticorax borbonensis Cowles, 1994:90, fig.ld,e [new synonymy; holotype,
distal half of left tibiotarsus MNHN, LAC 1993-35, from bed 4, Grotte des
Premiers Francais (Grande Caverne), Reunion Island].
MATERIAL.—Grotte des Premiers Francais: Holotype of N.
borbonensis (see below).
Grotte de l'Autel: r. scapula, 330516.
Marais de l'Ermitage: r. scapula, 1866; 1. p. coracoid,
1831; 1. d. humerus, 1826; r. ulna, 1828; 1. p. ulna, 1832; r. femur,
1827; 2 r. d. tibiotarsi, 1829, 1830; r. tarsometatarsus,
1916; 2 1. d. tarsometatarsi, 1865, 1917.
DESCRIPTION AND COMPARISONS.—The material from
Reunion agrees perfectly with the genus Nycticorax. The different
species of this genus show much variation in size, the
largest being N. caledonicus (Gmelin), which lives in Indonesia,
Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and in some Pacific duboisi are larger than the largest individuals of N. nycticorax
or N. caledonicus in the USNM collection.
The supratendinal bridge is incompletely ossified in the
three tibiotarsi of N. duboisi. The condition is unknown in N.
mauritianus, whereas in N. megacephalus the supratendinal
bridge is completely ossified (Milne-Edwards, 1874, pl. 14:
fig. 7). The dimensions of Mascarene Nycticorax are given in
Table 2. Most of the remains ofN. duboisi are larger than those
of either N. megacephalus or N. mauritianus (Figure Ai-j), except
for the tarsometatarsus, which is almost the same size as in
N. megacephalus, and the femur, which is smaller in most dimensions
than that in N. megacephalus.
The ratio-diagram (Figure 2) shows the differences in the relative
proportions of the bones in the three Mascarene species,
compared with the modern species N. nycticorax and N caledonicus.
In N. mauritianus and N. megacephalus the wings
(humeri, ulnae, carpometacarpi) are considerably reduced, and
the legs (particularly the femora) are longer than in modern
species. In contrast, N. duboisi is larger than living species, but
the proportions are almost the same. The tarsometatarsus is
slightly longer than in N. nycticorax or N. caledonicus, but
only two are available, and for one of them the length is estimated.
The ratio-diagram clearly demonstrates that the Rodrigues
and Mauritius species had a reduced flying ability,
whereas the Reunion form had a flying ability quite similar to
that of living species.
By the proportions of the tarsometatarsus, which is short and
thick, the Mascarene night herons are more similar to Nycticorax
nycticorax than to other congeners, particularly N. caledonicus. In the case of N. megacephalus and N. mauritianus,
however, the robustness of the tarsometatarsus is probably accentuated
by the reduced flying ability (Table 3).
The Reunion night heron had green feet and had gray plumage
flecked with white, a description that fits very well with the
juvenile plumage of Nycticorax nycticorax.
REMARKS.—Cowles (1994) thought that the species name
Ardea duboisi, created by Rothschild (1907), was a nomen nudum,
but actually this name, published with a description, is
valid. It has been used several times (Hachisuka, 1953; Greenway,
1967) and therefore must be retained, in conformity with
the law of priority. Many other accepted scientific names of
Mascarene birds are based on similar descriptions.
The description given by Dubois is as follows: "Bitterns or
Great throats, large as big capons [domestic fowl, Gallus gallus
(Linnaeus)], but fat and good [to eat]. They have grey plumage,
each feather tipped with white, the neck and beak like a heron
and the feet green, made like the feet of the 'Poullets dTnde'
[domestic turkey, Meleagris gallopavo (Linnaeus)]. That lives
on fish" (Barre and Barau, 1982:30, our translation). Dubois'
words "Butors ou Grands Gauziers" were left in French by 01-iver (1897) but afterward were translated into English by Rothschild
(1907:114) as "Bitterns or Great Egrets." The word gosier,
in old French gauzier, does not mean "egret" but "throat,"
and the words grand gosier designated both pelicans and the
"argalas" of India {Leptoptilus dubius (Gmelin)).
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Post by another specialist on Aug 26, 2007 18:01:18 GMT
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Post by another specialist on Jul 20, 2008 16:27:49 GMT
 Extinct birds : an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times : that is, within the last six or seven hundred years : to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction (1907) |
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Post by Melanie on Jul 19, 2023 14:08:22 GMT
Osteological and historical data on extinct island night herons (Aves: Ardeidae), with special reference to Ascension Island, the Mascarenes and Bonin Islands Abstract Night herons of the genus Nycticorax and Nyctanassa are adept island colonisers, occurring on a number of oceanic islands and island archipelagos. Continental species and those inhabiting large islands are generally not considered threatened, whereas night herons restricted to small, oceanic islands are particularly vulnerable to human interference. As a result, six out of nine described species and one subspecies, all derived from Nycticorax nycticorax, Nycticorax caledonicus or Nyctanassa violacea, are now extinct whereas a further three extinct species await description. The extinct island endemics generally exhibit morphological adaptations to an insular environment and diet, such as an increase or decrease in size, robust jaws and legs, and smaller wings with associated reduced flying ability than founding stock. Here I present an osteological comparison along with historical descriptions of the extinct, oceanic island night herons, with special reference to the Mascarene and Ascension fossil species, and Bonin Island subspecies, and show the degree of morphological changes between the founding and island taxa. I further discuss the reasons why they became extinct. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016699523000591?via%3Dihub |
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