South Island stout-legged wren
South Island stout-legged wren Temporal range: Late Pleistocene-Holocene | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Acanthisittidae |
Genus: | †Pachyplichas |
Species: | †P. yaldwyni |
Binomial name | |
†Pachyplichas yaldwyni Millener, 1988 |
The South Island stout-legged wren or Yaldwyn's wren (Pachyplichas yaldwyni) is an extinct species of New Zealand wren, a family of small birds endemic to New Zealand.
History and etymology
The holotype is a right tarsometatarsus (NMNZS 22683 in the collections of the National Museum) collected on 29 September 1983 from the Honeycomb Hill Cave. The specific epithet honours Dr John Yaldwyn, Director of the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington, in recognition of his contributions to avian palaeontology.[1]
Description
It was the largest (by weight) of the New Zealand wrens. The morphology of the wren indicates that it was strongly adapted to a terrestrial existence. Radiocarbon dates for the assemblages with which it is associated range from 25,000 BP to 1,000 BP.[1] Either flightless or nearly so, it became extinct following the occupation of New Zealand by the Polynesian ancestors of the Māori, and the associated introduction of the kiore (Pacific rat).
Distribution and habitat
The subfossil remains of the wren have only been found in the South Island of New Zealand, and it seems to have formed a species pair with the closely related P. jagmi, which was only found in the North Island. Since it has been found in association with four other species of acanthisittids in four genera (at the Honeycomb Hill Cave site) it is likely that its ecological niche was different enough for it to have coexisted with them. Sites where it was found indicate that it inhabited lowland mixed podocarp broadleaf forest, ranging upwards into alpine tundra scrubland.[1]
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Millener (1988).
Sources
- Millener, P.R. (1988). "Contributions to New Zealand's Late Quaternary avifauna. 1: Pachyplichas, a new genus of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae), with two new species". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 18 (4): 383–406. Bibcode:1988JRSNZ..18..383M. doi:10.1080/03036758.1988.10426464.
External links
- Holotype of Pachyplichas yaldwyni from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- Stout-legged Wren, Pachyplichas yaldwyni, by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
- v
- t
- e
birds
- Bellbird (korimako)
- Black-billed gull (tarāpuka)
- Brown creeper (pipipi)
- Brown teal (pāteke)
- Buff-banded rail (moho-pererū)
- Dabchick (weweia)
- Double-banded plover (pohowera)
- New Zealand falcon (kārearea)
- Fantail (pīwakawaka)
- Grey warbler (riroriro)
- Grey-faced petrel (ōi)
- Sacred kingfisher (kōtare)
- Long-tailed cuckoo (koekoeā)
- Kererū
- Pipit (pīhoihoi)
- New Zealand dotterel (tūturiwhatu)
- South Island robin
- North Island robin
- New Zealand scaup (pāpango)
- Paradise shelduck (pūtangitangi)
- Pūkeko
- Rifleman (tītipounamu)
- New Zealand rock wren (pīwauwau)
- Shining cuckoo (pīpīwharauroa)
- Silvereye (tauhou)
- South Island oystercatcher (tōrea)
- Spotted shag (pārekareka)
- Tomtit (miromiro)
- Tūī
- Variable oystercatcher (tōrea pango)
- White-fronted tern (tara)
- Whitehead (pōpokotea)
- Wrybill (ngutuparore)
![Southern brown kiwi](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Tokoeka.jpg/100px-Tokoeka.jpg)
birds
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- Little spotted kiwi (kiwi pukupuku)
- North Island brown kiwi (roroa)
- Okarito kiwi (rowi)
- Southern brown kiwi (tokoeka)
- Yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho)
- Kākāpō
- South Island takahē
- Fiordland penguin (tawaki)
- Weka
- Blue penguin (kororā)
endemic birds
(flying)
- Black-fronted tern (tarapiroe)
- Black stilt (kakī)
- Blue duck (whio)
- Fernbird (mātātā)
- Foveaux shag
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- Kea
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- South Island kōkako
- New Zealand fairy tern (tara-iti)
- New Zealand king shag (kawau tūī)
- New Zealand storm petrel (takahikare)
- Northern royal albatross
- Otago shag (Matapo)
- Orange-fronted parakeet (kākāriki karaka)
- Red-billed gull (tarāpunga)
- North Island saddleback (tīeke)
- South Island saddleback (tīeke)
- Shore plover (tūturuatu)
- Stitchbird (hihi)
- Yellowhead (mōhua)
birds
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- Chatham albatross (toroa)
- Chatham gerygone
- Chatham oystercatcher (tōrea)
- Chatham parakeet
- Chatham petrel (ranguru)
- Chatham pigeon (parea)
- Chatham shag (papua)
- Chatham snipe
- Magenta petrel (tāiko)
- Pitt shag (kawau o rangihaute)
birds
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- Auckland rail
- Auckland shag
- Auckland teal (tētē kākāriki)
- Antipodes parakeet
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- Campbell albatross
- Campbell shag
- Campbell teal
- Erect-crested penguin (tawaki nana hī)
- Reischek's parakeet
- Snares snipe
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- New Zealand bittern (kaoriki)
- New Zealand quail (koreke)
- Huia
- Haast's eagle
- Moa
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- South Island adzebill
- Auckland Island merganser (rakiraki maungahuka)
- Chatham Island merganser
- Bushwren (mātuhituhi)
- Long-billed wren
- South Island stout-legged wren
- North Island stout-legged wren
- Lyall's wren
- Chatham kākā
- Laughing owl (whēkau)
- Chatham penguin
- Waitaha penguin
- Eyles' harrier (kērangi)
- North Island little spotted kiwi
- North Island snipe
- South Island snipe
- Forbes's snipe
- Snipe-rail
- Imber's petrel
- Scarlett's shearwater (ōiruki)
- North Island takahē (moho)
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- Finsch's duck (manutahora)
- New Zealand owlet-nightjar (ruru hinapō)
- New Zealand musk duck
- New Zealand swan (poūwa)