Content deleted Content added
SandyGeorgia (talk | contribs) combine these to resolve MOS:SANDWICH |
m Task 18 (cosmetic): eval 41 templates: del empty params (26×); hyphenate params (6×); del |ref=harv (4×); cvt lang vals (5×); |
||
Line 43:
| last1 = Strickland
| first1 = H.E.
|
| last2 = Melville
| first2 = A. G.
Line 52:
| year = 1848
| page = [https://archive.org/details/dodoitskindredor00stri/page/21 21]
| url = https://archive.org/details/dodoitskindredor00stri}}</ref><ref name="Hume2019"/> The Belgian scientist [[Edmond de Sélys Longchamps]] coined the [[scientific name]] ''Apterornis bonasia'' based on the old accounts mentioned by Strickland. He also included two other Mascarene birds, at the time only known from contemporary accounts, in the genus ''Apterornis'': the [[Réunion ibis]] (now ''Threskiornis solitarius''); and the [[Réunion swamphen]] (now ''Porphyrio caerulescens''). He thought them related to the [[dodo]] and [[Rodrigues solitaire]], due to their shared rudimentary wings, tail, and the disposition of their digits.<ref name="Longchamps">{{cite journal |last1=de Sélys Longchamps |first1=E.|oclc=84482084 |title=Résumé concernant les oiseaux brévipennes mentionnés dans l'ouvrage de M. Strickland sur le Dodo |journal=Revue Zoologique |date=1848 |pages=292–295 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/19656#page/304/mode/1up|language=
The name ''Apterornis'' had already been used for a different extinct bird genus from [[New Zealand]] (originally spelled ''[[Aptornis]]'', the adzebills) by the British biologist [[Richard Owen]] earlier in 1848. The meaning of ''bonasia'' is unclear. Some early accounts refer to red rails by the vernacular names for the [[hazel grouse]], ''Tetrastes bonasia'', so the name evidently originates there. The name itself perhaps refers to ''bonasus'', meaning "bull" in Latin, or ''bonum'' and ''assum'', meaning "good roast". It has also been suggested to be a Latin form of the French word ''bonasse'', meaning simple-minded or good-natured.<ref name="OlsonB"/> It is also possible that the name alludes to bulls due the bird being said to have had a similar attraction to the waving of red cloth.<ref name="Hume2019"/>
The German ornithologist [[Hermann Schlegel]] thought van den Broecke's sketch depicted a smaller dodo species from Mauritius, and that the Herbert sketch showed a dodo from Rodrigues, and named them ''Didus broecki'' and ''Didus herberti'' in 1854.<ref>{{Citation | last = Schlegel | first = H. | title = Ook een Woordje over den Dodo (''Didus ineptus'') en zijne Verwanten | journal = Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen | volume = 2 | pages = 232–256 | language =
| last = de Sélys Longchamps
| first = E.
Line 63:
| volume = 11
| pages = 292–295
| language =
| year = 1848 }}</ref><ref name="OlsonB"/>
In the 1860s, the travel journal of the [[Dutch East India Company]] ship ''Gelderland'' (1601–1603) was rediscovered, which contains good sketches of several now-extinct Mauritian birds attributed to the artist Joris Laerle, including an unlabelled red rail.<ref name="Gelderland"/> More fossils were later found by Theodore Sauzier, who had been commissioned to explore the "historical souvenirs" of Mauritius in 1889.<ref name="Newton & Gadow">{{cite journal| doi = 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1893.tb00001.x| last1 = Newton | first1 = E.|
===Evolution===
Line 85:
| location = London
|publisher=T. & A. D. Poyser
|isbn=978-0-7136-6544-4}}</ref> They were first generically synonymised by the British ornithologists [[Edward Newton]] and [[Albert Günther]] in 1879, due to skeletal similarities.<ref name="Günther& Newton">{{cite journal| doi = 10.1098/rstl.1879.0043| last1 = Günther | first1 = A.| last2 = Newton | first2 = E.| year = 1879| title = The extinct birds of Rodriguez| journal = [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London]]| volume = 168| pages = 423–437| url = https://archive.org/stream/philtrans07832595/07832595#page/n0/mode/2up
| doi-access = free}}</ref> In 1892, the Scottish naturalist [[Henry Ogg Forbes]] described [[Hawkins's rail]], an extinct species of rail from the [[Chatham Islands]], as a new species of ''Aphanapteryx''; ''A. hawkinsi''. He found the Chatham Islands species more similar to the red rail than the latter was to the Rodrigues rail, and proposed that the Mascarene Islands had once been connected with the Chatham Islands, as part of a [[lost continent]] he called "Antipodea". Forbes moved the Chatham Islands bird to its own genus, ''Diaphorapteryx'', in 1893, on the recommendation of Newton, but later reverted to his older name. The idea that the Chatham Islands bird was closely related to the red rail and the idea of a connection between the Mascarenes and the Chatham Islands were later criticised by the British palaeontologist [[Charles William Andrews]] due to no other species being shared between the islands, and the German ornithologist [[Hans F. Gadow]] explained the similarity between the two rails as [[parallel evolution]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Forbes|first1=H. O.|title=Mr. H. O. Forbes's Discoveries in the Chatham Islands|journal=Nature|date=1893|volume=48|issue=1230|pages=74–75|doi=10.1038/048074c0|bibcode=1893Natur..48...74F|s2cid=3981755|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429351}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Forbes|first1=H. O.|title=Mr. H. O. Forbes's Discoveries in the Chatham Islands|journal=Nature|date=1893|volume=48|issue=1232|pages=126|doi=10.1038/048126a0|bibcode=1893Natur..48..126F|s2cid=46553514|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429351}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Andrews | first = C. W. | title = On the extinct birds of the Chatham Islands. Part I.: The osteology of ''Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi'' | journal = Novitates Zoologicae
[[File:Rodrigues Rail.png|thumb|alt=An illustration of a bird with a long neck, a long, sharp, red beak, red legs and feet, mid-grey to black feathers and a large, red, naked area around its eye|1907 restoration of the similar [[Rodrigues rail]] by [[Frederick William Frohawk]], based on old accounts]]
In 1945, the French palaeontologist [[Jean Piveteau]] found skull features of the red and Rodrigues rail different enough for generic separation, and in 1977, Olson stated that though the two species were similar and derived from the same stock, they had also diverged considerably, and should possibly be kept separate. Based on geographic location and the morphology of the [[nasal bones]], Olson suggested that they were related to the genera ''[[Gallirallus]]'', ''[[Dryolimnas]]'', ''[[Atlantisia]]'', and ''[[Rallus]]''.<ref name="OlsonB">{{cite book | last = Olson | first = S. | chapter = A synopsis on the fossil Rallidae | title = Rails of the World – A Monograph of the Family Rallidae | editor = Ripley, S. D. | publisher = Codline | location = Boston | year = 1977 | pages = 357–363
Rails have reached many oceanic [[archipelagos]], which has frequently led to [[speciation]] and evolution of [[flightlessness]]. According to the British researchers Anthony S. Cheke and [[Julian P. Hume]] in 2008, the fact that the red rail lost much of its feather structure indicates it was isolated for a long time. These rails may be of Asian origin, like many other Mascarene birds.<ref name="Lost Land"/> In 2019, Hume supported the distinction of the two genera, and cited the relation between the extinct [[Mauritius owl]] and the [[Rodrigues owl]] as another example of the diverging evolutionary paths on these islands. He stated that the relationships of the red and Rodrigues rails was more unclear than that of other extinct Mascarene rails, with many of their distinct features being related to flightlessness and modifications to their jaws due to their diet, suggesting long time isolation. He suggested their ancestors could have arrived on the Mascarenes during the middle [[Miocene]] at the earliest, but it may have happened more recently. The speed of which these features evolved may also have been affected by gene flow, resource availability, and climate events, and flightlessness can evolve rapidly in rails, as well as repeatedly within the same groups, as seen in for example ''Dryolimnas'', so the distinctness of the red and Rodrigues rails may not have taken long to evolve (some other specialised rails evolved in less than 1–3 million years). Hume suggested that the two rails were probably related to ''Dryolimnas'', but their considerably different morphology made it difficult to establish how. In general, rails are adept at colonising islands, and can become flightless within few generations in suitable environments, for example without predators, yet this also makes them vulnerable to human activities.<ref name="Hume2019">{{cite journal |last1=Hume |first1=J. P. |title=Systematics, morphology and ecology of rails (Aves: Rallidae) of the Mascarene Islands, with one new species |journal=Zootaxa |date=2019 |volume=4626 |issue=1 |pages=9–37, 63–67 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4626.1.1|pmid=31712544 }}</ref>
Line 97:
| last = Fuller
| first = E.
|
| title = Extinct Birds
| publisher = Comstock
Line 125:
| last = Rothschild
| first = W.
|
| title = Extinct Birds
| publisher = Hutchinson & Co
Line 161:
| title = Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World
| publisher = American Committee for International Wild Life Protection 13
| location = New York
| year = 1967
| pages = 117–119
| isbn = 978-0-486-21869-4}}</ref> In his famous ''Edwards' Dodo'' painting from 1626, a rail-like bird is seen swallowing a frog behind the dodo, but Hume has doubted this identification and that of red rails in other Savery paintings, suggesting may instead show [[Eurasian bitterns]].<ref name="Extinct Birds"/><ref name="Hume2019"/> In 1977, the American ornithologist [[Sidney Dillon Ripley]] noted a bird resembling a red rail figured in the Italian artist [[Jacopo Bassano]]'s painting ''Arca di Noè'' ("[[Noah's Ark]]") from ca. 1570. Cheke pointed out that it is doubtful that a Mauritian bird could have reached Italy this early, but the attribution may be inaccurate, as Bassano had four artist sons who used the same name.<ref name="Cheke87"/> A similar bird is also seen in the Flemish artist [[Jan Brueghel the Elder]]'s ''Noah's Ark'' painting.<ref name="Lost Land"/> Hume concluded that these paintings also show Eurasian bitterns rather than red rails.<ref name="Hume2019"/>
Line 182 ⟶ 178:
| title = Non-Marine Molluscs of the Mascarene Islands
| publisher = Bioculture Press
| location = Mauritius
| year = 2006
Line 197 ⟶ 190:
While it was swift and could escape when chased, it was easily lured by waving a red cloth, which they approached to attack; a similar behaviour was noted in its relative, the Rodrigues rail. The birds could then be picked up, and their cries when held would draw more individuals to the scene, as the birds, which had evolved in the absence of mammalian [[predator]]s, were curious and not afraid of humans.<ref name="Fuller Extinct"/> Herbert described its behaviour towards red cloth in 1634:
{{Quotation|The hens in eating taste like parched pigs, if you see a flocke of twelve or twenties, shew them a red cloth, and with their utmost silly fury they will altogether flie upon it, and if you strike downe one, the rest are as good as caught, not budging an iot till they be all destroyed.<ref name="Lost Land"/>}}
Many other endemic species of Mauritius became extinct after the arrival of man heavily damaged the [[ecosystem]], making it hard to reconstruct. Before humans arrived, Mauritius was entirely covered in forests, but very little remains today due to [[deforestation]].<ref>{{cite journal| doi = 10.1017/S0030605300020457| last = Cheke | first = A. S.| year = 1987| title = The legacy of the dodo—conservation in Mauritius| journal = Oryx| volume = 21| issue = 1| pages = 29–36
}}</ref> The surviving endemic [[fauna]] is still seriously threatened.<ref>{{cite journal| doi = 10.1017/S0030605300012643| last = Temple | first = S. A.| year = 1974| title = Wildlife in Mauritius today| journal = Oryx| volume = 12| issue = 5| pages = 584–590 }}</ref> The red rail lived alongside other recently extinct Mauritian birds such as the dodo, the [[broad-billed parrot]], the [[Mascarene grey parakeet]], the [[Mauritius blue pigeon]], the Mauritius owl, the [[Mascarene coot]], the [[Mauritian shelduck]], the [[Mauritian duck]], and the [[Mauritius night heron]]. Extinct Mauritian reptiles include the [[saddle-backed Mauritius giant tortoise]], the [[domed Mauritius giant tortoise]], the [[Mauritian giant skink]], and the [[Round Island burrowing boa]]. The [[small Mauritian flying fox]] and the snail ''Tropidophora carinata'' lived on Mauritius and Réunion, but became extinct in both islands. Some plants, such as ''[[Casearia tinifolia]]'' and the [[palm orchid]], have also become extinct.<ref name="Lost Land"/>
Line 205 ⟶ 198:
| last = Fuller
| first = E.
|
| title = Dodo – From Extinction to Icon
| publisher = [[HarperCollins]]
| location = London
| year = 2002
| pages = 16–26
| isbn = 978-0-00-714572-0}}</ref> The Dutch Empire acquired the island in 1598, renaming it after [[Maurice of Nassau]], and it was used from then on for the provisioning of trade vessels of the Dutch East India Company.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Schaper | first1 = M. T. | last2 = Goupille | first2 = M. | doi = 10.5172/ser.11.2.93 | title = Fostering enterprise development in the Indian Ocean: The case of Mauritius | journal = Small Enterprise Research | volume = 11 | issue = 2 | pages = 93 | year = 2003
▲ | isbn = 978-0-00-714572-0}}</ref> The Dutch Empire acquired the island in 1598, renaming it after [[Maurice of Nassau]], and it was used from then on for the provisioning of trade vessels of the Dutch East India Company.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Schaper | first1 = M. T. | last2 = Goupille | first2 = M. | doi = 10.5172/ser.11.2.93 | title = Fostering enterprise development in the Indian Ocean: The case of Mauritius | journal = Small Enterprise Research | volume = 11 | issue = 2 | pages = 93 | year = 2003 | pmid = | pmc = | s2cid = 128421372 | ref=harv}}</ref> To the sailors who visited Mauritius from 1598 and onwards, the fauna was mainly interesting from a culinary standpoint. The dodo was sometimes considered rather unpalatable, but the red rail was a popular [[gamebird]] for the Dutch and French settlers. The reports dwell upon the varying ease with which the bird could be caught according to the hunting method and the fact that when roasted it was considered similar to [[pork]].<ref name="Fuller Extinct"/>
The last detailed account of the red rail was by the German pastor Johann Christian Hoffmann, on Mauritius in the early 1670s,<ref name="Hume2019"/> who described a hunt as follows:
Line 221 ⟶ 210:
[[File:Aphanapteryx bonasia.JPG|thumb|alt=drawing that includes a red rail|[[Pieter van den Broecke]]'s 1617 drawing of a dodo, a one-horned goat, and a red rail; after the dodo became extinct, its name may have been transferred to the red rail]]
Hoffman's account refers to the red rail by the German version of the Dutch name originally applied to the dodo, "dod-aers", and John Marshall used "red hen" interchangeably with "dodo" in 1668.<ref name="Extinction date"/> Milne-Edwards suggested that early travellers may have confused young dodos with red rails.<ref name =Greenway/> The British ornithologist [[Alfred Newton]] (brother of Edward) suggested in 1868 that that the name of the dodo was transferred to the red rail after the former had gone extinct.<ref name="NewtonA.">{{cite journal |last1=Newton |first1=A. |title=Recent ornithological publications |journal=Ibis |date=1868 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=479–482 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/55161#page/507/mode/1up}}</ref> Cheke suggested in 2008 that all post 1662 references to "dodos" therefore refer to the rail instead.<ref name="Extinction date">{{cite journal| doi = 10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00478.x| last = Cheke | first = A. S.| year = 2006| title = Establishing extinction dates – the curious case of the Dodo ''Raphus cucullatus'' and the Red Hen ''Aphanapteryx bonasia''| journal = Ibis| volume = 148| pages = 155–158
}}</ref> A 1681 account of a "dodo", previously thought to have been the last, mentioned that the meat was "hard", similar to the description of red hen meat.<ref name="Lost Land"/> The British writer [[Errol Fuller]] has also cast the 1662 "dodo" sighting in doubt, as the reaction to distress cries of the birds mentioned matches what was described for the red rail.<ref name="Fuller Extinct"/>
Line 236 ⟶ 225:
| last = Leguat
| first = F.
|
| title = The voyage of François Leguat of Bresse, to Rodriguez, Mauritius, Java, and the Cape of Good Hope
| publisher = Hakluyt Society
| location = London
| year = 1891
| |||