Rodrigues night heron
| Rodrigues night heron | |
|---|---|
| |
| Subfossil skull, limb bones, and sternum, 1873 | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Pelecaniformes |
| Family: | Ardeidae |
| Genus: | Nycticorax |
| Species: | †N. megacephalus
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Nycticorax megacephalus (Milne-Edwards, 1873)
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| |
| Location of Rodrigues | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Ardea megacephala Milne-Edwards, 1873 | |
The Rodrigues night heron (Nycticorax megacephalus) is an extinct species of heron formerly occurring on the Mascarene island of Rodrigues.[1]
Taxonomy
The French travelers Francois Leguat and Julien Tafforet mentioned "bitterns" in their accounts of 1708 and 725–26, respectively. In 1873, the French zoologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards described subfossil bones from Rodrigues and named the species Ardea megacephala based on them, which he correlated with the birds of Leguat's account.[2][3] The Japanese ornithologist Masauji Hachisuka used the name Megaphoyx megacephala in 1953.[4]
Description
The skull of the Rodrigues night heron was 154 long,the upper mandible was 94 mm and the lower was 147.[5] The beak was comparatively large.[2]
Behaviour and ecology
Little is known about the behaviour of the Rodrigues night heron apart from the two contemporary descriptions.[2] Leguat's 1708 description, wherein he stated the bird fed on endemic Phelsuma geckos (likely the Rodrigues day gecko), reads as follows:
We had an abundance of Bitterns, as big and as good as capons; they are more familiar, and more easily to be caught than the Woodhens [Rodrigues Rail] ... They [Rodrigues Day-gecko] serve for Prey to some Birds, especially the Bitterns. When we beat ’em them down from the Trees with a pole, these Birds would come and devour them before us, tho’ we did our utmost to hinder them; and when we offer’d to oppose them, they came on still after their Prey, and still follow’d us when we endeavour’d to defend them.[2]
They apparently laid greenish eggs; one of their favorite foods was geckos, probably the Rodrigues day gecko as the other local species, the Rodrigues giant day gecko was nearly as long as the bird itself (both gecko species are nowadays extinct too). Analysis of the fossil remains concluded that the bill of the species was very strong (hence the name megacephalus, i.e. "large-headed") and that it was evolving towards flightlessness.[6]
Tafforet's 1725–26 account reads as follows:
There are not a few Bitterns which are birds which only fly a very little, and run uncommonly well when they are chased. They are of the size of an egret and something like them.[2]
Milne-Edwards suggested in 1874 that the Rodrigues night heron had reduced power of flight, an opinion which Günther and Newton corroborated in 1879 by measuring the known wing-bones and founding all of them except the scapula to have been reduced in size and strength, while retaining the same shape as those of other herons.[7] Hachisuka ignored Tafforet's account in 1953 and stated the species was flightless.[2] After reexamining the bones in 1987, Cowles found that the wings were not particularly short, but that the legs were longer and more robust, which is characteristic of more terrestrial species.[8]
Many other species endemic to Rodrigues became extinct after humans arrived, and the island's ecosystem is heavily damaged. Before humans arrived, forests covered the island entirely, but very little remains today. The Rodrigues night heron lived alongside other recently extinct birds, such as the Rodrigues solitaire, Rodrigues parrot, Newton's parakeet, Rodrigues rail, Rodrigues scops owl, Rodrigues starling, and the Rodrigues pigeon. Extinct reptiles include the domed Rodrigues giant tortoise, the saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise, and the Rodrigues day gecko.[9]
Extinction
The French astronomer Alexandre Guy Pingré was unable to find the bird in 1761. The species had probably gone extinct by this time, as a consequence of severe deforestation and introduced predators, such as cats.[2]
References
- ^ a b BirdLife International (2016). "Nycticorax megacephalus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22728787A94996659. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22728787A94996659.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hume, J. P. (2017). Extinct Birds (2 ed.). Croydon: Bloomsbury Natural History. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-1-4729-3744-5.
- ^ Milne-Edwards, Alphonse (1873): Recherches sur la faune ancienne des Îles Mascareignes. Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. (Paris) 5(19), Article 3, plate 14. [Article in French] Note: Usually, the year of publication is given as 1874. However, although the volume was nominally of that year, it was already released in 1873.
- ^ Hachisuka, M. 1953. The Dodo and kindred birds. Witherby, London.
- ^ Rothschild, W. (1907). Extinct Birds. London: Hutchinson & Co. pp. 111–115. OCLC 191907718.
- ^ "Rodrigues Night Heron - Nycticorax mauritianus". www.mauritiusencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
- ^ Günther, A.; Newton, E. (1879). "The extinct birds of Rodriguez". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 168: 423–437. Bibcode:1879RSPT..168..423G. doi:10.1098/rstl.1879.0043.
- ^ Cowles, G. S. 1987. The fossil record. In: Diamond, A.W. (ed.), Studies of Mascarene Island birds, pp. 90-100. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
- ^ Cheke, A. S.; Hume, J. P. (2008). Lost Land of the Dodo: an Ecological History of Mauritius, Réunion & Rodrigues. T. & A. D. Poyser. pp. 49–52. ISBN 978-0-7136-6544-4.
- Cheke, A.S. 1987. An ecological history of the Mascarene Islands, with particular reference to extinctions and introductions of land vertebrates. In: Diamond, A.W. (ed.), Studies of Mascarene island birds, pp. 5-89. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.