Hawkins’s Rail (Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi)
Posted on 31 December, 1850 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1850-1900
Comments:
This species was known from the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, but is now Extinct as a result of hunting and introduced predators. It is known only from the fossil record and two accounts describing recollections of the species. The oldest member of the Moriori Polynesians was questioned and his recollections were described in a letter in 1895 (Hume 2017); based on this evidence the species is thought to have persisted into at least the late 1800s.
Habitat:
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.
Causes:
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. Introduced predators are also likely to have contributed to this species' extinction (Hume 2017).
Distribution:
Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi was endemic to the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, where its remains have been found on the main Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Available evidence, including a letter from Sigvard Jacob Dannefaerd to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild in 1895 describing the species' appearance, behaviour and Moriori hunting method, suggests that this species survived into at least the late 1800s.