Tribonyx hodgenorum

Hodgens' waterhen
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Tribonyx
Species: T. hodgenorum
Binomial name
Tribonyx hodgenorum
(Olson, 1986)
Synonyms
  • Rallus hodgeni Scarlett, 1955
  • Gallinula hodgeni Olson, 1975
  • Gallinula hodgenorum Olson, 1986

Hodgens' waterhen[2] or Hodgen's rail (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is an extinct rail species from New Zealand. Its name commemorates the Hodgen brothers who were owners of the Pyramid Valley swamp where the holotype was discovered. It reached a weight of 280 g and its wings were so reduced that it was unable to fly. It occupied a wide range of habitats, including open forest and grassland along riverbanks.

History

Tribonyx hodgenorum was closely related to the black-tailed native-hen (Tribonyx ventralis) and the Tasmanian native-hen (Tribonyx mortierii). The species was first described by Ron Scarlett as Rallus hodgeni in 1955. Storrs L. Olson transferred it into the genus Gallinula in 1975 and changed its specific epithet to hodgenorum in 1986. It is only known from subfossil material of which the youngest Māori midden record is from the 18th century. Hundreds of bones have been unearthed at Pyramid Valley on South Island, at Lake Poukawa on North Island, and several other sites, indicating that it was once widespread in New Zealand except on the Chatham Islands. The main reasons for its extinction are likely to have been predation by the Pacific rat and hunting by human settlers.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2014). "Tribonyx hodgenorum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  2. ↑ The spelling is variously Hodgen's Waterhen or Hodgens' Waterhen. Sources such as Lost World of the Moa (2002) and Extinct birds of New Zealand (2006) are using the latter spelling.

References


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