Mantell's moa (''Pachyornis geranoides'') also known as Mappin's moa
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 ...
of
moa from the
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
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 ...
. Its habitat was the lowlands (shrublands, grasslands, dunelands, and forests).
The moa were
ratites
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 o ...
, 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 the ratites 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.
[Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)]
Footnotes
References
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q3734974
Extinct flightless birds
Extinct birds of New Zealand
Ratites
Bird extinctions since 1500
Holocene extinctions
Late Quaternary prehistoric birds
Birds described in 1848