Tag Archives: Megapodius

Megapodius pritchardii ssp. ‘Samoa’

Samoan Megapode (Megapodius pritchardii ssp.)

This taxon is known exclusively on the basis of subfossil bones, found on the small island of Ofu, part of ‘American’ Samoa.

The remains were tentatively identified as possibly belonging to the Tongan Megapode (Megapodius cf. pritchardii), if so, they may have been a local subspecies. [2]

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This form may be the bird that was described (as Megapodius stairi Gray) based on a single egg found on the island of Savai’i.:

Nach Bennett (Proc. 1862. p. 247) erhielt Dawson auch die lebenden Vögel auf Sava- oder Russel-Island, die indess leider auf der Ueberfahrt nach Sydney starben. Die Eingeborenen kennen diese Hühner sehr gut und sammeln die Eier fleissig, mit welchen sie Handel treiben. Ein Weibchen legt täglich 2-4 Eier.” 

translation:

According to Bennett (Proc. 1862. p. 247) Dawson obtained also the life birds on Sava- or Russel Island [Savai’i], which, however, unfortunately died during the crossing to Sydney. The natives know these chickens very well and diligently collect the eggs, with which they trade. A female lays 2-4 eggs on the daily [I personally doubt that number!].” [1]

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References:

[1] O. Finsch; G. Hartlaub: Beitrag zur Fauna Centralpolynesiens. Ornthologie der Viti-, Samoa- und Tonga-Inseln. Halle, H. W. Schmidt 1867
[2] David W. Steadman: Extinction and biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006

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Megapodius sp. ‘Buka’

Buka Island Megapode (Megapodius sp.)

This undescribed form is known from subfossil remains, found on the island of Buka in the northernmost part of the Solomon Islands.

The form may also have occurred on others of the Solomon Islands. [1]

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References:

[1] David W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006

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edited: 21.03.2018

Megapodius sp. ‘Andaman Islands’

Andaman Islands Megapode (Megapodius sp.)

The Andaman Islands are the northern part of a chain of islands in the Golf of Bengal, the southern part is made by the Nicobar Islands.

The Nicobar Islands are inhabited by an endemic megapode species, the Nicobar Megapode (Megapodius nicobariensis Blyth) (see photo below), which occurs there with two subspecies which are separated by the rather narrow Saint Georges Channel.

There are some accounts which mention megapodes from the Andaman Islands.:

Although we only obtained this species in the Nicobars we saw what were apparently mounds made by this species on Table Island off the [island of] Great Cocos, and the Lighthouse-keeper described to me brown hen like birds with large feet that he had shot on the island on several occasions, and which can scarcely have been anything but this species.” [1]

This account most likely did not refer to the Nicobar Megapode but to another, now extinct form.

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The British Museum of Natural History in London, Great Britain, keeps a six days old chick specimen that apparently was collected on Preparis Island even more northerly in the Andaman Island chain, which obviously clearly differs from the chicks of the Nicobar species by its more pronounced sooty grey and rufous bars on the upper wings, tertials, lower mantle, and back, and by broad pale cinnamon fringes and black submarinal marks on its secondaries. [2]

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References:

[1] A. Hume: The islands of the Bay of Bengal. Stray Feathers 2: 29-324. 1874
[2] Darryl N. Jones; René W. R. J. Dekker; Cees S. Roselaar: The Megapodes. Oxford University Press 1995

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Nicobar Megapode (Megapodius nicobariensis Blyth)

Photo from: ‘C. Boden Kloss: In the Andamans and Nicobars; the narrative of a cruise in the schooner “Terrapin”, with notices of the islands, their fauna, ethnology, etc. London: J. Murray 1903’

(not in copyright)

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edited: 06.03.2020

Megapodius alimentum Steadman

Western Polynesian Megapode (Megapodius alimentum)

The Megapodes, so called for their large feet used for digging, are characterized by their strange breeding behavior: they do not incubate their eggs with their body heat as other birds do, but bury them.

Some species lay their eggs in the sand of beaches, heated up by the tropical sun, some use volcanically heat for incubation, others collect as much decaying plant material as possible to build so called mounds, in which they then place their eggs.

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Probably most islands in Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia formerly harbored their own populations of Megapodes, numerous species are now known from subfossil remains. Some species, most of them considered hypothetical, are known from eggs only, or from contemporary eye-witness accounts.

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The Western Polynesian Megapode, also known as Consumed Scrubfowl, was described in 1989, it is known from subfossil remains found on several islands of Fiji and Tonga.

The species was bigger than its living congeners, but by far not the biggest species, it was still volant and probably inhabited nearly all islands from the Fijian Lau group to the Tongan chain.

It disappeared after the colonization of these islands by the first Polynesian settlers, who not only hunted the adult birds but also dug up their eggs. [1][2]

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References:

[1] T. H. Worthy: The fossil megapodes (Aves: Megapodiidae) of Fiji with descriptions of a new genus and two new species. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 30(4): 337-364. 2000
[2] David W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006

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edited: 31.10.2017