The Macquarie rail (''Hypotaenidia philippensis macquariensis''), also known as the Macquarie Island rail, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

subspecies of the

buff-banded rail The buff-banded rail (''Hypotaenidia philippensis'') is a distinctively coloured, highly dispersive, medium-sized rail of the rail family, Rallidae. This species comprises several subspecies found throughout much of Australasia and the south-we ...

endemic to Macquarie Island, a subantarctic island that is part of the state of Tasmania,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

.Garnett, Stephen T.; & Crowley, Gabriel M. (2000). ''The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000''. Environment Australia: Canberra. The holotype is in the collection of the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

Distribution and habitat

The rail was confined to Macquarie Island, where it occupied

tussock Tussock may refer to: * Tussock grass, a group of species in the family Poaceae *Floating island * Lymantriinae, called tussock moths or tussocks See also * Hassock (disambiguation) Hassock may refer to: * Kneeler, a cushion or a piece of f ...

grassland.

Extinction

The probable cause of extinction was predation by feral cats and

weka The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Gallirallus''. Four subspecies are recognize ...

s, exacerbated by habitat destruction caused by

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s. Although the rail had coexisted with the cats for over 70 years, the introduction of rabbits enabled an increase in the cat population, leading to increased predation on rails in winter with the rabbits at seasonally low numbers.

References

External links

* Hypotaenidia Extinct birds of Australia Birds described in 1879 Extinct birds of subantarctic islands {{gruiformes-stub