The ʻEua rail (Gallirallus vekamatolu) is an extinct species of flightless bird in the Rallidae, or rail family. It was described in 2005 from subfossil bones found on the island of ʻEua, in the Kingdom of Tonga of West Polynesia.[1]
ʻEua rail Temporal range: Holocene
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Illustration of an unidentified extinct species (possibly G. vekamatolu) from Vavaʻu, 1739 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Gruiformes |
Family: | Rallidae |
Genus: | Gallirallus |
Species: | †G. vekamatolu
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Binomial name | |
†Gallirallus vekamatolu |
References
edit- ^ a b c Kirchman, J.J. & Steadman, D. W. (2005). "Rails (Aves: Rallidae: Gallirallus) from prehistoric sites in the Kingdom of Tonga, including description of a new species". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 118 (2): 465–477. doi:10.2988/0006-324x(2005)118[465:rargfp]2.0.co;2. S2CID 86755841.