North Island giant moa

North Island giant moa
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Skeleton, Natural History Museum of London
Conservation status
Extinct
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Superorder:	Paleognathae
Order:	Struthioniformes
Family:	Dinornithidae
Genus:	†Dinornis
Species:	†D. novaezealandiae (Owen 1843)
Binomial name
Dinornis novaezealandiae (Owen 1843)
Synonyms
List Dinornis giganteus Owen, 1844 Dinornis struthoides Owen, 1844 Owenia struthoides (Gray 1855) Dinornis ingens Owen, 1844 Dinornis gigas Owen, 1846 spelling lapse Moa ingens (Owen 1844) Reichenbach, 1850 Movia ingens (Owen 1844) Reichenbach, 1850 Dinornis gracilis Owen, 1855 Dinornis dromioides Oliver 1930 non Owen 1846 Dinornis hercules Oliver 1949 Dinornis gazella Oliver 1949 Dinornis excelsus Hutton, 1891 Dinornis firmus Hutton, 1891 Tylopteryx struthoides (Owen 1844) Hutton, 1891 Palapteryx ingens (Owen 1844) Haast 1869

The North Island giant moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae) is one of two extinct moa in the genus Dinornis.

Taxonomy

Restoration by Frohawk

Skull at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

It is a ratite and a member of the order Struthioniformes. The Struthioniformes are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas where they have been found.

Habitat

This particular moa lived on the North Island of New Zealand, and lived in the lowlands (shrublands, grasslands, dunelands, and forests).

External links

• North Island Giant Moa. Dinornis Novaezealandiae. by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
• Holotypes of Dinornis Novaezealandiae in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa