Broad-billed moa
| Broad-billed moa Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mounted skeleton, Melbourne Museum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Infraclass: | Palaeognathae |
| Order: | †Dinornithiformes |
| Family: | †Emeidae |
| Genus: | †Euryapteryx Haast, 1874 |
| Species: | †E. curtus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Euryapteryx curtus (Owen, 1846) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
List
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The broad-billed moa, stout-legged moa, or coastal moa (Euryapteryx curtus) is an extinct species of moa that was endemic to New Zealand. It is the only species in the genus Euryapteryx.
Taxonomy
Euryapteryx curtus is a ratite and a member of the lesser moa family. The ratites are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate.
A 2009 genetic study showed that the species Euryapteryx gravis is a junior synonym of E. curtus. Following this, a study published in 2010 explained size differences among the remains as being a result of sexual dimorphism, which also occurs in other moa species. A 2012 morphological study interpreted them as subspecies instead. E. c. curtus, the nominate subspecies, was labeled the "coastal moa", while E. c. gravis was the "stout-legged moa".
The cladogram below follows a 2009 analysis by Bunce et al.:
| Dinornithiformes |
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Description
The broad-billed moa was a stout bird with a blunt and decurved bill, wide feet and short, thick legs. The species exhibits a notable variation in size due to sexual dimorphism: females generally weighed about twice as much as males. Like other moa, Euryapteryx curtus carried its head forward rather than upright, allowing it to comfortably feed on low-laying vegetation. Broad-billed moa also tended to be larger further south.
The windpipe of the broad-billed moa was elongated and looped through its body, which suggests that its call was deep and resonant, similar to that of the modern cassowary.
Behaviour and ecology
Diet
Analysis of broad-billed moa gizzard remains and beak shape suggest that it primarily fed on leaves, fruits, and other herbaceous plants, unlike other moa species such as the giant moa, whose diet was more fibrous.
Reproduction
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Like other moa species, the broad-billed moa likely had a clutch of one or two eggs per nesting season.
As of 2006, half of all complete or mostly complete moa eggs in museum collections are likely broad-billed moa specimens. Of the specimens traditionally given the name Euryapteryx gravis, the eggs have an average length of 205 mm (8.1 in) and width of 143 mm (5.6 in), while the group traditionally assigned to the name Euryapteryx curtus had an average length of 122 mm (4.8 in) and width of 94 mm (3.7 in).
Habitat and distribution
Euryapteryx curtus was one of the most widespread moa species, inhabiting mostly open areas. These moa lived on both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand, and remains have also been recovered from nearby Stewart Island. It inhabited lowland environments like duneland, forest, shrubland, and grassland.
Extinction
The species presumably went extinct for the same reasons as proposed for other moa: overhunting by the Māori (who called them "moa hakahaka") after their arrival on the islands in the 14th century.
References
- 1 2 "Euryapteryx curtus curtus. NZTCS". nztcs.org.nz. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
- 1 2 3 "Euryapteryx curtus gravis. NZTCS". nztcs.org.nz. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
- ↑ Owen, R. (1846). A History of British Fossil Mammals and Birds. London, UK: John Van Voorst.
- ↑ Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand (2010). "Checklist-of-Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands and the Ross Dependency Antarctica" (PDF). Te Papa Press. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
- 1 2 Szabo, M.J. (2013). "Stout-legged moa | New Zealand Birds Online".
- 1 2 Tennyson, Alan J. D. (2006). Extinct birds of New Zealand. Paul Martinson. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Papa Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-909010-21-8. OCLC 80016906.
- 1 2 Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003). "Moas". In Hutchins, Michael (ed.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Vol. 8: Birds I: Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. ISBN 0-7876-5784-0.
- ↑ Bunce, Michael; Worthy, Trevor H.; Phillips, Matthew J.; Holdaway, Richard N.; Willerslev, Eske; Haile, James; Shapiro, Beth; Scofield, R. Paul; Drummond, Alexei; Kamp, Peter J. J.; Cooper, Alan (8 December 2009). "The evolutionary history of the extinct ratite moa and New Zealand Neogene paleogeography" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (49): 20646–20651. Bibcode:2009PNAS..10620646B. doi:10.1073/pnas.0906660106. PMC 2791642. PMID 19923428.
- 1 2 Gill, B. J. (2010). "Regional comparisons of the thickness of moa eggshell fragments (Aves: Dinornithiformes)". Records of the Australian Museum. 62: 115–122. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.62.2010.1535.
- ↑ Worthy, T. H.; Scofield, R. P. (2012). "Twenty-first century advances in knowledge of the biology of moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes): a new morphological analysis and moa diagnoses revised". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 39 (2): 87–153. doi:10.1080/03014223.2012.665060. S2CID 83768608.
- ↑ Bunce et al. 2009.
- ↑ "A careful reconstruction of the stout legged moa (Euryapteryx geranoides)". Museum of New Zealand | Te Papa Tongarewa.
- ↑ "Recreating the call of the moa". Museum of New Zealand | Te Papa Tongarewa.
- 1 2 Worthy and Holdaway (2002). The lost world of the moa : prehistoric life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press.
- ↑ Gill, Brian James B. J. (2006). "A Catalogue of Moa Eggs (Aves: Dinornithiformes)". Papahou: Records of the Auckland Museum. 43: 55–80. JSTOR 42905885. Wikidata Q58623352.
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