Auckland Islands Merganser

Taxobox


name = Auckland Islands Merganser
status = EX
status_system = iucn3.1
extinct = c.1902
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Anseriformes
familia = Anatidae
genus = "Mergus"
species = "M. australis"
binomial = "Mergus australis"
binomial_authority = Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841

The Auckland Islands Merganser, "Mergus australis", was a typical merganser which is now extinct.

This duck was similar in size to the Red-breasted Merganser. The adult male had a dark reddish-brown head, crest and neck, with bluish black mantle and tail and slate grey wings. The female was slightly smaller with a shorter crest.

This bird was first collected when a French expedition led by the explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville on the ships "L'Astrolabe" and "La Zelee" visited the Auckland Islands in 1840. Its decline was caused by a combination of hunting and predation by introduced mammals. The bird was not flightless, but rather hard to flush; it preferred to hide between rocks when pursued. The last sighting was of a pair shot on January 9, 1902. It was not found in a 1909 search, and a thorough 1972/1973 exploration of possible habitat concluded that it was long extinct (Williams & Weller, 1974).

Subsequent fossil discoveries suggest that this merganser was previously resident on the South Island and Stewart Island in New Zealand. Fossils of a subspecies or closely related species have also been found on the Chatham Islands. There exists a short remark mentioning "a merganser" found on Campbell Island in McCormick (1842), but this may just as well refer to the semi-marine Campbell Island Teal which is otherwise missing in his notes: he only mentions the Pacific Black Duck ("a New Zealand species of duck").

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as extinct
* McCormick, Robert (1842): A sketch of the Antarctic regions, embracing a few passing remarks, geographical and ornithological. "Tasmanian Journal of Natural Sciences" 1(4): 241-247. [http://www.nla.gov.au/ferguson/14400642/18420000/00010004/1-10.pdf PDF fulltext]
* Williams, G. R. & Weller, M. W.. (1974): Unsuccessful search for the Auckland Islands Merganser ("Mergus australis"). "Notornis" 21(3): 246-249. [http://www.notornis.org.nz/free_issues/Notornis_21-1974/Notornis_21_3.pdf PDF fulltext]