Anomalopteryx

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Bush Moa
Anomalopteryx didiformus skeleton
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Superorder: Paleognathae Order: Struthioniformes Family: Dinornithidae Genus: Anomalopteryx (Reichenbach, 1852) Species: A. didiformis
Binomial name
Anomalopteryx didiformis (Owen, 1844)[1]
Synonyms
Dinornis didiformis (Owen, 1844) Dinornis parvus (Owen, 1883) Dinornis oweni (Haast, 1886) Anomalopteryx antiquus (Hutton, 1892) (may be a valid predecessor species) Anomalopteryx parvus (Oliver, 1949) Anomalopteryx oweni (Oliver, 1949)

Anomalopteryx didiformis is an extinct bird genus known colloquially as the Lesser moa, Little bush moa. or Bush Moa. It stood more than 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) tall and weighed 30 kilograms (66 lb). It inhabited much of the North Island and small sections of the South Island of New Zealand. Its habitat was lowland conifer, broad-leafed, and beech forests.^[2]

It is a ratite and a member of the Struthioniformes Order. The Struthioniformes are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas that they have been found in.^[2]

The most complete remains, a partially articulated skeleton with substantial mummified tissue were discovered in 1980 in Echo Valley. It is now in the Southland Museum, in Invercargill, New Zealand. [1]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Brands, Sheila (Aug 14 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Genus Anomalopteryx". Project: The Taxonomicon. http://www.taxonomy.nl/Main/Classification/51293.htm. Retrieved on Feb 04 2009. 
• Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Moas". in Hutchins, Michael. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2 ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 95-98. ISBN 0 7876 5784 0. 

[edit] External links

• Little Bush Moa. Anomalopteryx didiformis. by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006]