Lesser Megalapteryx
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| Megalapteryx didinus (Owen, 1883) |
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Megalapteryx didinus, the Lesser Megalapteryx or Upland Moa was endemic to New Zealand.
It was the last moa species to become extinct, vanishing around 1500; possibly, some isolated populations managed to persist until about the early 19th century.
Several specimens with soft tissue and feather remains are known: British Museum A16, found at Queenstown in 1876, is the type of the species. A leg with much muscle tissue, skin and feathers from the Old Man Range is in the Otago Museum (C.68.2), and a skeleton with tissue on neck and head from the Cromwell area (NMNZ S400) is in the Te Papa Tongarewa, which also holds a foot with some muscle and sinews, found in January 7, 1987 at Mount Owen (NMNZ S23080). The latter was dated to be about 3300-3400 years old (Worthy, 1989).
Remains of one partial egg (Canterbury Museum NZ 1725) which have been found at the Rakaia River in 1971 are tentatively attributed to this species. The radiocarbon date of approximately AD 1300-1400 is in line with this. Unusually, the eggshell is dark olive green, but even if the egg is of M. didinus, the shell color may have varied between individual eggs (McCulloch, 1991).
[edit] References
- McCulloch, Beverley (1992): Unique, dark olive-green moa eggshell from Redcliffe Hill, Rakaia Gorge, Canterbury. Notornis 39(1): 63-65 PDF fulltext
- Worthy, Trevor H. (1989): Mummified moa remains from Mt Owen, northwest Nelson. Notornis 36(1): 36–38. [1]
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