Mullerornis betsilei

[RSN]

Mullerornis betsilei
Milne-Edwards & Grandidier 1894
Pleistocene of Madagascar
Primary materials: Types: Tibia, tarsometatarsus
Secondary materials: Foot bones, pelvis, femur, tibiotarsus, fibula, tarsometatarsus

home.planet.nl/~by000012/SM/Fossil/FossilAepyorn.htm

[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]

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]

Up to eight species of elephant birds have been listed in the past. But when consideration is yaken that size differences can be explained by sexual dimorphism and temporal variation, qualiative differenes support only three distinct species. These are two Aepyornis species: Aepyornis maximus (includes A. medius as its smaller sex) and A. hildebrandti (includes A. gracilis). The third species is the more gracile Mullornis agilis (includes M. betsilei and M. rudis, named on unusually small specimens, and M. grandis a larger Pleistocene variant). As here defined, the size range of these elephant birds is less than that of some of the moa species, where much larger samples and well-dated specimens are available.

Source: Worthy, T.H. (2009). Fossil Birds. In: Gillespie, R., Clague, D. (Eds.) (2009). Encyclopedia of Islands. Encyclopedias of the Natural World, No. 2. University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520256491.

[Peter]

Does anyone knows a common English name for this species? Did they name 'betsilei' after someone or after a place/location? Would love to read its first description (Milne-Edwards, A. and Grandidier, A. (1894). Observations sur les Aepyornis de Madagascar. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences 118: 122-127).

Frank's website says: Betsilei's Elephant Bird
extinct-website.com/extinct-website/index.php?cPath=22_37_133

Alex's website says: Betsile Elephant-Bird
www.extinct.minks-lang.de/a.englisch/arten.m/mullerornis.betsilei1.html

Branden's website: Betsilei's elephant bird
cubits.org/TheExtinctionCubit/db/extinctbirds/view/90743/

[Deleted]

The Betsileo are a indigenous tribe from Madagascar, their territory is called by the same name.

[surroundx]

Jul 4, 2015 23:08:33 GMT Peter said:

Does anyone knows a common English name for this species? Did they name 'betsilei' after someone or after a place/location? Would love to read its first description (Milne-Edwards, A. and Grandidier, A. (1894). Observations sur les Aepyornis de Madagascar. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences 118: 122-127).

Frank's website says: Betsilei's Elephant Bird
extinct-website.com/extinct-website/index.php?cPath=22_37_133

Alex's website says: Betsile Elephant-Bird
www.extinct.minks-lang.de/a.englisch/arten.m/mullerornis.betsilei1.html

Branden's website: Betsilei's elephant bird
cubits.org/TheExtinctionCubit/db/extinctbirds/view/90743/

Hi Peter, I had simply copied roughly the common name that others have given this species, and all others, unless I put "(proposed)" after the common name, in which case I am making a suggestion myself.

As to the original description, while searching for an online copy I came across a great bibliographical listing of avian palaeontology by Tommy Tyrberg:

www2.nrm.se/ve/birds/sape/links.html.en

I'm sure there is lots of new information to be found in all those papers! As to the (Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1894) paper, here it is courtesy of Tommy Tyrberg:

gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3074r/f122.image

Thanks also to Alex for the etymology of betsilei!

[Peter]

Thanks Alex and Branden, that is very helpful!

[surroundx]

Now considered invalid:

Hansford, James P. and Turvey, Samuel T. (2018). Unexpected diversity within the extinct elephant birds (Aves: Aepyornithidae) and a new identity for the world's largest bird. R. Soc. open sci. 5: 181295.