| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANIMALIA | CHORDATA | AVES | GRUIFORMES | RALLIDAE |
| Scientific Name: | Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi | |||
| Species Authority: | (Forbes, 1892) | |||
Common Name/s:
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| Red List Category & Criteria: | Extinct ver 3.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Year Assessed: | 2008 | |||||||||||||||
| Assessor/s: | BirdLife International | |||||||||||||||
| Reviewer/s: | Bird, J., Butchart, S. | |||||||||||||||
| History: |
|
| Range Description: | Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi was endemic to the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, where its remains have been found on the main Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Recent evidence, including a letter from Sigvard Jacob Dannefarerd to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild in 1895 describing the species's appearance, behaviour and Moriori hunting method, suggests that this species survived into at least the late 1800s. |
| Habitat and Ecology: | The species was flightless, stood approximately 40 cm tall and weighed an estimated 2 kg. It is thought to have been a ground-dwelling insectivore, also feeding on fern root and capable of preying on small ground-nesting species. |
| Systems: | Terrestrial |
| Major Threat(s): | Its remains are frequently associated with middens of the islands' initial Polynesian inhabitants, the Moriori, indicating that hunting is likely to have caused its extinction. |
| Citation: | BirdLife International 2008. Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 10 February 2012. |
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