Pachyornis geranoides (Mantell’s Moa)

[Melanie]

former name: Pachyornis mappini Mappin's moa

Mantell’s Moa was a stoutly built but relatively small bird. It was about 30 kilograms in weight and preferred forest edges and wetlands and was widespread in the North Island and the dominant species on the east coast.

Worthy and Holdaway identify the egg and chick in the lower illustration as as a species of Pachydornis. It was found in Central Otago.





www.nzbirds.com/birds/moamantells.html

[another specialist]

nandu.na.funpic.de/moa.htm

[RSN]

Grzimek pic:



animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/grzimek_birds/Dinornithidae/Euryapteryx_geranoides.jpg/view.html

[another specialist]

RSN Its the same image as i've posted previously just mine is a transparent version

[Carlos]

More images from the series: Extinct Birds of New Zealand
Mantell’s Moa Pachyornis geranoides

collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectsearch.aspx

[another specialist]

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)

[another specialist]

Euryapteryx gravis (Owen 1870), was Dinornis gravis Owen 1870
= Euryapteryx geranoides (Owen, 1848)

[another specialist]

Cela geranoides now classed as as Euryapteryx geranoides



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)

[another specialist]

All now classed as as Euryapteryx geranoides apart from Exilis





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)

[another specialist]

Pachyornis pygmaeus = Euryapteryx geranoides
Pachyornis compacta = Euryapteryx geranoides



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)

[Peter]

Stout-legged Moa Pachyornis geranoides (Owen)
Palapteryx geranoides Owen 1848a, pp. 1,7: Owen 1848b, p. 361, pl. 54, figs 1-5 (Te Rangatapu, South Island)
Euryapteryx gravis Owen 1870, p. 141, pl. 14 (Kakanui, South Island)
Emeus gravipes Lydecker 1891, p. 297 (Kakanui, South Island)
Euryapteryx pygmaeus Hutton 1891, p. 249 (Takaka, South Island)
Emeus boothi Rothschild 1907a p. 210 (Shuy River, South Island)
Emeus haasti Rothschild 1907a p. 210 (Glenmark, South Island)
Emeus parkeri Rothschild 1907a p. 210 (Shag point, South Island)
Euryapteryx kuranui Oliver 1930, p. 52 (Castle Point, South Island)
Dinornis expunctus Archey 1927, p. 152
Pachyornis mappini Archey 1941, p. 41
Pachyornis septentrionalis Oliver 1949, p. 61 (Pohue, North Island)

Specimens Subfossil remains are in Canterbury, Nelson and Wellington, New Zealand; and London.

Status Extinct. Known only from subfossil remains. Date of extinction c. 1350-1450.
Range South Island, New Zealand.

The nomenclature of this species is extremely confusing. Archey (1941) and Oliver (1949) referred this species to the genus Euryapteryx, without actually examining the bones. Worthy (2005b) resolved the taxonomy and Euryapteryx geranoides is now synonymised under Pachyornis geranoides. Two other supposed species, Pachyornis mappini and P. septentrionalis, are now known to be males and females of the same species, both of which are also now synonymised under P. geranoides.
The Stout-ligged Moa was another extraordinary bird with massive short and robust legs, a blunt bill and squat body. It also exhibited extreme sexual dimorphism. The males stood about 1m tall and weighed between 17 and 30kg, whereas the females were taller and may have reached between 40 and 100kg. It was the stoutest member of the genus (Worthy & Holdaway 2002). Subfossil remains show that this species was restricted mainly to the eastern lowlands of South Island during the Holocene (Worthy & Holdaway 1993).

Hume J.P. & Walters M. (2012). Extinct birds. London: T & AD Poyser, 544 pp. ISBN 978-1-4081-5725-1.

[surroundx]

McCallum, J., Hall, S., Lissone, I., Anderson, J., Huynen, L. and Lambert, D. M. (2013). Highly Informative Ancient DNA ‘Snippets’ for New Zealand Moa. PLoS ONE 8(1): e50732.

[surroundx]

Worthy, Trevor H. and Holdaway, Richard N. (2000). Terrestrial fossil vertebrate faunas from inland Hawke's Bay, North Island, New Zealand. Part 1. Records of the Canterbury Museum 14: 89-154.

[surroundx]

Worthy, Trevor H. (1998). A remarkable fossil and archaeological avifauna from Marfells Beach, Lake Grassmere, South Island, New Zealand. Records of the Canterbury Museum 12(1): 79-176.

[surroundx]

Smith, Ian. (1999). Settlement Permanence and Function at Pleasant River Mouth, East Otago, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 19: 27-79.

[Sebbe]

Augustus Hamilton’s fossil collection at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Augustus Hamilton (1853–1913) was a New Zealand ethnologist and naturalist who amassed a significant collection of fossils, mostly of birds, during his career. Today, those fossils are housed in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (NMNZ). While some fossils have been catalogued and integrated into the collection of the NMNZ, a large part remained unsorted and uncatalogued. The present study brings an integrated view of Hamilton’s collection at the NMNZ, highlighting the most significant fossils. In total, there are 3692 specimen lots collected by Hamilton in the NMNZ representing a large sample of taxa and a wide range of locations around Aotearoa New Zealand. Most fossils are of Holocene age and belong to birds. The collection includes type specimens, circa 250 specimen lots belonging to extinct species, and specimens belonging to otherwise poorly represented species in natural history collections. We hope that our study makes Hamilton’s fossils visible and more readily available for future research.

tuhinga.arphahub.com/article/97731/

[Sebbe]

Thickness histograms of Holocene fossil eggshell fragments indicate diversity and relative abundance of moas (Aves: Dinornithiformes) at North Island sites.

Moa eggshell fragments from 13 North Island sites (New Zealand), were 0.54–1.74 mm thick (n = 6036). Thicknesses with published DNA-identifications overlapped greatly between the four North Island species, but median thicknesses were separate: Pachyornis geranoides thinnest, Dinornis novaezealandiae thickest, and Euryapteryx curtus and Anomalopteryx didiformis in the middle, but with the former slightly thinner. Thickness histograms for regional samples of unidentified moa eggshell fragments, each had one of four thickness patterns: Type A (thin eggshell only), Type B (thick eggshell only), Type C (medium-thickness eggshell only), and Type D (all thicknesses present). The Gisborne site, poorly-known from moa bones, had a similar thickness profile (Type D, skewed towards thin shell) to North Cape and Tokerau Beach implying a similar moa fauna. Eggshell thicknesses suggested that D. novaezealandiae was absent at Port Jackson (Type A histogram) and that P. geranoides was absent at Whananaki (Type B pattern) and rare at Herbertville (Type D, skewed towards thick shell). Thickness analysis for eggshell from a Lake Taupo archaeological site suggested that few eggs of just one species were involved, whereas a wide spread of shell thicknesses for a Great Mercury Island site implied a contribution from several species.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03014223.2021.1970585