Crested Moa

Crested Moa
Conservation status
Extinct (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Superorder:	Paleognathae
Order:	Dinornithiformes
Family:	Anomalopteryginae
Genus:	Pachyornis
Species:	P. australis (Oliver, 1949)[1]
Binomial name
Pachyornis australis (Oliver, 1949)[1]

The Crested Moa, Pachyornis australis, is a species of Moa from the family Dinornithidae. It is one of the 11 known species of Moa to have existed. Moa are grouped together with Emus, Ostriches, Kiwis, Cassowaries, and Rheas in the Ratite group. Ratites are flightless birds that do not have a keeled sternum.^[2]

Description

The Crested Moa weighed around 75 kg (170 lb), and lived on the South Island of New Zealand – being the dominant species in both the far north and far south of this island. It could live in cold alpine terrain.

The Crested Moa was, like most species of Moa, a huge bird, though it was lighter than some of the other large species.

Etymology

The name Crested Moa is due to pits being found in their skulls, suggesting they had crests. These cranial pits are also found occasionally in Dinornis, Anomalopteryx, and other Pachyornis species.^[3]

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} Brands, S. (2008)
2. ^ Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)
3. ^ Olliver, Narena (2005)

References

• Brands, Sheila (14 August 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification - Genus Phoebetria -". Project: The Taxonomicon. http://www.taxonomy.nl/Main/Classification/51302.htm. Retrieved 22 February 2009. 
• Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003). "Albatrosses (Diomedeidae)". In Hutchins, Michael; Jackson, Jerome A.; Bock, Walter J. et al.. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins. Joseph E. Trumpey, Chief Scientific Illustrator (2 ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 95–98. ISBN 0 7876 5784 0. 
• Olliver, Narena (2005). "Crested Moa". Birds (of New Zealand). New Zealand Birds. http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/moacrested.html. Retrieved Feb 15 2011. 

External links

• Crested Moa. Pachyornis australis. by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
• Holotype of Pachyornis australis in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa