''Talpanas lippa'', the Kauaʻi mole duck,Julian Pender Hume, Michael Walters: ''Extinct Birds''. A & C Black, London 2012. ., p 57 is an extinct

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 the appropriate s ...

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...

. It was first described by Andrew N. Iwaniuk,

Storrs L. Olson Storrs Lovejoy Olson (April 3, 1944 – January 20, 2021) was an American biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution, retiring in 2008. One of the world's foremost avian paleontologists, he was best known ...

, and

Helen F. James Helen Frances James (born May 22, 1956) is an American paleontology, paleontologist and paleornithology, paleornithologist who has published extensively on the fossil birds of the Hawaiian Islands. She is the Curator, curator in charge of birds ...

in the journal ''

Zootaxa ''Zootaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists. It is published by Magnolia Press (Auckland, New Zealand). The journal was established by Zhi-Qiang Zhang in 2001 and new issues are published multiple times a week ...

'' in November 2009. It is the only known member of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Talpanas''. It was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

an island of Kauai where the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains were unearthed in the

Makauwahi Cave The Makauwahi Cave is the largest limestone cave found in Hawaii. It lies on the south coast of the island of Kauai, in the Māhāulepū Valley close to Māhāulepū Beach, and is important for its paleoecological and archaeological values. I ...

, Maha‘ulepu. The

archaeological association This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

of the bones is about 6000 years BP (around 4050 BCE).

Etymology

The genus name ''Talpanas'' is taken from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''talpa'', meaning

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

and referring to the small size of the eyes, and the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''anas'', or duck. The species name ''lippa'' is from the Latin ''lippus'', meaning "nearly blind".

Description

The tarsometatarsi (lower leg bones) of ''Talpanas lippa'' were short and stout, and the braincase shallow and wide relative to its length. It had very small orbits (eye sockets) and also very small optic

foramina In anatomy and osteology, a foramen (;Entry "foramen"
in

(holes in the skull through which the optic nerves pass as they travel from the eyes to the brain). Together, these physical characteristics show that the eyes and

optic nerve In neuroanatomy, the optic nerve, also known as the second cranial nerve, cranial nerve II, or simply CN II, is a paired cranial nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. In humans, the optic nerve is derived fro ...

of this duck were quite reduced in size, and it can be assumed that this species was probably both blind and

flightless 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 ...

. However, the maxillo-mandibular foramina (holes through which the

trigeminal nerve In neuroanatomy, the trigeminal nerve ( lit. ''triplet'' nerve), also known as the fifth cranial nerve, cranial nerve V, or simply CN V, is a cranial nerve responsible for sensation in the face and motor functions such as biting and chew ...

passes) are extremely large, indicating larger nerves were travelling through it. The authors hypothesize that this blind, or nearly blind, duck would have used tactile and olfactory stimuli (the senses of

touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

and smell) from its beak to explore its surroundings in the absence of good vision. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

, a partial skull, is stored at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

with specimen number USNM 535683.

Biology

''Talpanas lippa'' was probably nocturnal and terrestrial, similar to

kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), a nickname for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible berry * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of currency Kiwi or KIWI may also ref ...

in New Zealand which prey on small invertebrates in forest

soil litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constitu ...

. Its bill may have resembled that of a

platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or mono ...

References

Anatidae Biota of Kauai Endemic fauna of Hawaii Extinct birds of Hawaii Extinct flightless birds Fossil taxa described in 2009 Holocene extinctions Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Extinct monotypic bird genera Taxa named by Helen F. James {{paleo-bird-stub