The Gough moorhen (''Gallinula comeri'') is a medium-sized, almost

flightless bird Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites (ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwi) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the I ...

that is similar to the

common moorhen The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World. The common moorhen lives around well-vegetated mar ...

(''Gallinula chloropus''), but is smaller, stockier, and has shorter wings. The bird has a distinctive yellow-tipped red

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

and red

frontal shield A frontal shield, also known as a facial shield or frontal plate, is a feature of the anatomy of several bird species. Located just above the upper mandible, and protruding along the forehead, it is composed of two main parts: a hard, proteinaceo ...

. Its first account was written in 1888 by the polar explorer

George Comer Captain George Comer (April 1858 – 1937) was considered the most famous American whaling captain of Hudson Bay, and the world's foremost authority on Hudson Bay Inuit in the early 20th century. Comer was a polar explorer, whaler/ sealer, eth ...

, whom the specific name ''comeri'' commemorates. This bird is found only on two remote islands in the South Atlantic. The Gough moorhen was originally endemic to

Gough Island upright=1.3, Map of Gough island Gough Island ( ), also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, is a rugged volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Sain ...

, but in 1956 was introduced to

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena ...

, an island in the same archipelago which was formerly home of the now extinct

Tristan moorhen The Tristan moorhen (''Gallinula nesiotis'') is an extinct species of flightless rail endemic to the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. It was very similar to the Gough moorhen of Gough Island, located 395 miles to the southeast. The on ...

(''Galinula nesiotis''). On the basis of

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. The ...

of both recently collected and historical material from both of the archipelago's moorhen species, Groenenberg ''et al'' (2008) concluded that the genetic distances between ''G. nesiotis'' and ''G. comeri'' are of at least the same size as those found between subspecies of common moorhen (''G. chloropus'') in the literature. They propose that the extinct moorhen of Tristan (''G. nesiotis'') and the moorhens that live on Gough and Tristan today (''G. comeri'') be regarded as subspecies.Groenenberg, D.S.J., Beintema, A,J., Dekker, R.W.R.J. & E. Gittenberger, 2008. ''Ancient DNA Elucidates the Controversy about the Flightless Island Hens (Gallinula sp.) of Tristan da Cunha.'' PLoS ONE 3(3):1835
full text
/ref> On Gough Island, it appears that the bird's future is secure with the island being a nature reserve and a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. In the mid-1990s, it was estimated that 2,500 breeding pairs existed on Gough Island. Gough Island is considered the least disturbed, major, cool-temperate island ecosystem in the South Atlantic Ocean and hosts one of the most important sea-bird colonies in the world, containing 54 bird

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

, 22 breeding species, and four threatened species. However, on Tristan da Cunha, it is not classified as a native species and therefore is not protected.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
*ARKive
images and movies of the Gough Island moorhen (''Gallinula comeri'')"Description of a new gallinule, from Gough Island"
- J.A. Allen, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol.4, Art.6, 1892. p. 57-58
Official Gough Island website

website A.J.Beintema
Gough moorhen Fauna of Gough Island Endemic fauna of Tristan da Cunha Birds of islands of the Atlantic Ocean Gough moorhen {{TristandaCunha-stub