The broad-billed, stout-legged moa or coastal moa (''Euryapteryx curtus'') is an extinct species of moa. These moa lived in both the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

Islands of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and on

Stewart Island Stewart Island ( mi, Rakiura, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land ar ...

. Its habitat was in the lowlands (duneland, forest, shrubland, and grassland). It was a

ratite A ratite () is any of a diverse group of flightless, large, long-necked, and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwi, the exception, are much smaller and shorter-legged and are the only nocturnal extant ratites. The systematics ...

and a member of the

lesser moa The lesser moa (Family (biology), family Emeidae) were a family in the moa Order (biology), order Dinornithiformes. About two-thirds of all moa species are in the lesser moa family. The moa were Ratite, ratites from New Zealand. Ratites are fligh ...

family. The ratites are flightless birds with a sternum without a

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

. 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. 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 has an average length of 205mm and width of 143mm, while the group traditionally assigned to the name ''Euryapteryx curtus'' had an average length of 122mm and width of 94mm.

Taxonomy

A 2009 genetic study showed that ''Euryapteryx curtus'' and ''Euryapteryx gravis'' were synonyms. A 2010 study explained size differences among them as sexual dimorphism. A 2012 morphological study interpreted them as subspecies instead. The cladogram below follows a 2009 analysis by Bunce ''et al.'': File:Stout-legged Moa.jpg, Skull

Footnotes

References

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External links

Unmasking the secrets of the extinct moa
Extinct flightless birds Extinct birds of New Zealand Late Quaternary prehistoric birds

broad-billed moa The broad-billed, stout-legged moa or coastal moa (''Euryapteryx curtus'') is an extinct species of moa. These moa lived in both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand, and on Stewart Island. Its habitat was in the lowlands (duneland, f ...

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