The New Caledonian gallinule (''Porphyrio kukwiedei'') was a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Rallidae The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, althou ...

. 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 New Caledonia and probably became extinct due to

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and the presence of invasive species following human settlement of the island. However a passage from an 1860 article refers to birds the size of turkeys being present in marshy areas of New Caledone, suggesting that it may have survived into historic times. The native name ''n'dino'' is thought to refer to this bird. It was described from subfossil bones found at the Pindai Caves paleontological site on the west coast of Grande Terre. The specific epithet derives from ''Kukwiede'', the name of a local deity associated with a legend leading to the discovery of a bone of the gallinule on the Isle of Pines.

References

Porphyrio Extinct birds of New Caledonia Holocene extinctions Birds described in 1989 Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Taxa named by Jean-Christophe Balouet Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Gruiformes-stub