Thambetochen
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Thambetochen is an extinct genus of
moa-nalo The moa-nalo are a group of extinct aberrant, goose-like ducks that lived on the larger Hawaiian Islands, except Hawaii itself, in the Pacific. They were the major herbivores on most of these islands until they became extinct after human settle ...
duck. It contains two species, the
Maui Nui moa-nalo The Maui Nui large-billed moa-nalo (''Thambetochen chauliodous''), also known as the Maui Nui moa-nalo, is one of two species of moa-nalo in the genus '' Thambetochen''. Moa-nalo are a group of extinct, flightless, large goose-like ducks, which e ...
(''T. chauliodous'') and the smaller O'ahu moa-nalo (''T. xanion''). The former was found on
Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
and
Molokai Molokai , or Molokai (), is the fifth most populated of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Islands archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles (61 by 16 km) at its greatest length an ...
on Hawaii, the latter was found on Oahu. These birds were large, flightless ducks, with robust legs but small wings, which had evolved in isolation, on islands without terrestrial mammals. Their beaks had tooth-like lamellae and their diet was plants which they digested through hindgut fermentation. These birds were likely driven to extinction when the islands were colonised by
Polynesians Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sou ...
.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7709821 Anatidae Holocene extinctions Extinct flightless birds Extinct birds of Hawaii Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Endemic fauna of Hawaii Bird genera Fossil taxa described in 1976