The huge flightless Adzebills of New Zealand were always a bit of an enigma as to their relationships with other birds. A new genetic study shows that they were rails and that their closest living relatives are the tiny Flufftails of Madagascar and Africa.
Article here: African Origins for the Enigmatic Adzebill
Comparing adzebill DNA to that of modern bird species led the team to a surprising conclusion: the closest living relative of these extinct New Zealand giants is the tiny Madagascan Flufftail, which weighs less than 50 g. Adzebills could weigh up to 19 kg.
These results, published recently in the journal Diversity, overturn a previous theory that the adzebill’s ancestors were in New Zealand when it was still connected to the supercontinent Gondwana, more than 52 million years ago.
Scofield says the adzebill’s ancestors likely flew to New Zealand from Madagascar between 40 and 22 million years ago. After arriving here, the species grew rapidly, increasing more than 50-fold in mass.
“Adzebills became almost totally wingless but they gained these huge reinforced beaks, which might have been used for digging or to attack prey,” Scofield says.
The full paper: Mitochondrial Genomes from New Zealand’s Extinct Adzebills (Aves: Aptornithidae: Aptornis) Support a Sister-Taxon Relationship with the Afro-Madagascan Sarothruridae
Article here: African Origins for the Enigmatic Adzebill
Comparing adzebill DNA to that of modern bird species led the team to a surprising conclusion: the closest living relative of these extinct New Zealand giants is the tiny Madagascan Flufftail, which weighs less than 50 g. Adzebills could weigh up to 19 kg.
These results, published recently in the journal Diversity, overturn a previous theory that the adzebill’s ancestors were in New Zealand when it was still connected to the supercontinent Gondwana, more than 52 million years ago.
Scofield says the adzebill’s ancestors likely flew to New Zealand from Madagascar between 40 and 22 million years ago. After arriving here, the species grew rapidly, increasing more than 50-fold in mass.
“Adzebills became almost totally wingless but they gained these huge reinforced beaks, which might have been used for digging or to attack prey,” Scofield says.
The full paper: Mitochondrial Genomes from New Zealand’s Extinct Adzebills (Aves: Aptornithidae: Aptornis) Support a Sister-Taxon Relationship with the Afro-Madagascan Sarothruridae