''Vitirallus watlingi'', the Fiji rail or Viti Levu rail, was a prehistoric flightless bird from Fiji, and is the only species in the genus ''Vitirallus''. ''Vitirallus watlingi'' is thought to have been about the same size as the

bar-winged rail The bar-winged rail (''Hypotaenidia poeciloptera'') was a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It was endemic to Fiji and was last collected ca 1890 in Viti Levu. The species was identified from twelve 19th century specimens, some of which are ...

(''Nesoclopeus poecilopterus'') but with a very elongated and slender bill. The genus name refers to

Viti Levu Viti Levu (pronounced ) is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji. It is the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population. Geology Fiji lies in a tectonically complex area between the Australian P ...

, the island of origin in Fiji; ''rallus'' is Latin for rail. The

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 ...

name ''watlingi'' is after the ornithologist Dr Dick Watling. Remains of this species were discovered in September 1998 at Viti Levu, the largest island in the

Republic of Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. It was first described by

Trevor H. Worthy Trevor Henry Worthy (born 3 January 1957) is an Australia-based paleozoologist from New Zealand, known for his research on moa and other extinct vertebrates. Biography Worthy grew up in Broadwood, Northland, and went to Whangarei Boys' High S ...

in 2004. 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 several ...

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 ...

References

Extinct flightless birds Fossil taxa described in 2004 Extinct birds of Oceania Extinct monotypic bird genera Rallidae Holocene extinctions {{Paleo-bird-stub

See also

References