Pico Rail (Rallus montivagorum)

The Pico Rail was described in 2015, it is known from subfossil material that had been collected in 2013 at a place named Furna das Torres on the island of Pico, Azores, Portugal.

The species derived from the European mainland Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus L.) and differed from that species by its slighly smaller size and a reduced sternum which indicates that it probably was completely flightless.

Some of the remains could be dated to an age of about 1405 to 1450, that is around the same time when Portugese begun to colonize the Azores. [1]

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References:

[1] Josep Antoni Alcover; Harald Pieper; Fernando Pereira; Juan Carlos Rando: Five new extinct species of rails (Aves: Gruiformes: Rallidae) from the Macaronesian Islands (North Atlantic Ocean). Zootaxa 4057(2): 151-190. 2015

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edited: 10.09.2019