Dieffenbach's rail

Dieffenbach's rail (Hypotaenidia dieffenbachii), known in the Moriori language as meriki or mehoriki, is an extinct flightless species of bird from the family Rallidae. It was endemic to the Chatham Islands.

Dieffenbach's rail

Extinct (1872)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Extinct (1872) (NZ TCS)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Hypotaenidia
Species:
†H. dieffenbachii
Binomial name
†Hypotaenidia dieffenbachii
(Gray, 1843)
Synonyms
  • Gallirallus dieffenbachii
  • Cabalus dieffenbachii
Juvenile
Head

Extinction

The only recorded living specimen of Dieffenbach's rail was captured in 1840 by Ernst Dieffenbach, who is commemorated in the scientific and common name of the species. It became extinct due to hunting and introduced predators, perhaps soon after 1872.

Taxonomy

The Dieffenbach's rail was sympatric with the flightless Chatham rail (Cabalus modestus). Their sympatry suggests parallel evolution after separate colonisation of the Chatham Islands by a common volant ancestor, presumably the buff-banded rail (Hypotaenidia philippensis).[3] A 2014 genetic analysis found that the taxa were not particularly closely related, with Dieffenbach's rail being sister to the group of Hypotaenidia including the buff-banded rail, while the Chatham rail was found to be in a more basal position.[4] It is still considered to be in the genus Gallirallus by some experts.

  • Various views of the skull of Dieffenbach's rail
  • Lateral view
    Lateral view
  • Dorsal view
    Dorsal view
  • Ventral view
    Ventral view
  • Oblique view
    Oblique view

See also
  • Hawkins's rail, another extinct flightless rail endemic to the Chatham Islands.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Hypotaenidia dieffenbachii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22692455A93354540. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692455A93354540.en. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  2. "Gallirallus dieffenbachii. NZTCS". nztcs.org.nz. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  3. Trewick, S.A. (1997). "Sympatric flightless rails Hypotaenidia dieffenbachiii and C. modestus on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand; morphometrics and alternative evolutionary scenarios". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 27 (4): 451–464. doi:10.1080/03014223.1997.9517548.
  4. Garcia-R, Juan C.; Gibb, Gillian C.; Trewick, Steve A. (December 2014). "Deep global evolutionary radiation in birds: Diversification and trait evolution in the cosmopolitan bird family Rallidae". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 81: 96–108. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.09.008. PMID 25255711.


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