Origins of giant extinct New Zealand bird traced to Africa
Scientists have revealed the African origins of New Zealand's most mysterious giant flightless bird – the now extinct adzebill – showing that some of its closest living relatives are the pint-sized flufftails from Madagascar and Africa.
Led by the University of Adelaide, the research in the journal Diversity showed that among the closest living relatives of the New Zealand adzebills – which weighed up to 19 kilograms – are the tiny flufftails, which can weigh as little as 25 grams. The closeness of the relationship strongly suggests that the ancestors of the adzebills flew to New Zealand after it became physically isolated from other land.
This finding mirrors the close relationship between New Zealand's kiwi and the extinct Madagascan elephant birds, published by University of Adelaide researchers in 2014, hinting at an unappreciated biological connection between Madagascar and New Zealand.
Like the better-known moa, the two species of adzebill – the North Island adzebill and South Island adzebill –disappeared following the arrival of early Maori in New Zealand, who hunted them and cleared their forest habitats. Unlike the moa, adzebills were predators and not herbivores.
"The adzebill were almost completely wingless and had an enormous reinforced skull and beak, almost like an axe, which is where they got their English name," says Alexander Boast, lead author and former Masters student at the University of Adelaide. "If they hadn't gone extinct, they would be among the largest living birds."
