Saint Helena hoopoe

Saint Helena hoopoe

Extinct  (Early 16th. century)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Bucerotiformes
Family:Upupidae
Genus:Upupa
Species: U. antaios
Binomial name
Upupa antaios
(Olson, 1975)
Location of Saint Helena
Synonyms

Upupa antaois (lapsus)

The Saint Helena hoopoe (Upupa antaios), also known as the Saint Helena giant hoopoe or giant hoopoe, is an extinct species of the hoopoe (family Upupidae), known exclusively from an incomplete subfossil skeleton.

It was endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. It was probably flightless.[2] The first analysis of this species was given in 1963 by the British zoologist Philip Ashmole, who discovered in the Dry Gut sediments in the east of Saint Helena a left humerus which differed significantly from that of other Upupidae.

The incomplete skeleton, which was found in 1975 by the palaeontologist Storrs L. Olson, consists of both coracoids and the left femur.[2]

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Upupa antaios". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. 1 2 Storrs L. Olson. (1975). Paleornithology of St Helena Island, south Atlantic Ocean. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 23.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.