Hodgens' Waterhen

The New Zealand cesspool chicken ( Gallinula hodgenorum ) is an extinct Rallenart of New Zealand. The specific epithet refers to the Hodgen brothers, who were the owners of the Pyramid Valley swamp, where the holotype was found.

Features

The New Zealand cesspool chicken reached a weight of 280 grams and its wings were so greatly reduced that it was unable to fly. It was about the same size as the red footed cesspool chicken ( Gallinula ventralis ), but had shorter, stronger runs. The skull showed similarities with that of the Tasmanian cesspool chicken ( Gallinula mortierii ). Therefore, it is possible that the red footed cesspool chicken, the chicken and the New Zealand Tasman slough slough chicken had a common ancestor.

Habitat

The habitats of New Zealand cesspool chicken were different. They ranged from open forests or grasslands up to river banks.

Extinction

The New Zealand mud-hole chicken is known only from subfossilem material which was discovered in middens of the Maori, which are dated to the 18th century. Hundreds of bones that were in the Pyramid Valley on the South Island, located in Lake Poukawa on the North Island and in several other fossil sites, suggest that the New Zealand mud-hole chicken, apart from the Chatham Islands, spread throughout New Zealand was. The main cause of its extinction was probably the overhunting by the Maori and the enactment by the Pacific rat.

System

1955 Art by Ron Scarlett was described as Rallus hodgeni. Storrs Lovejoy Olson she transferred in 1975 to the genus Gallinula and changed the specific epithet 1986 hodgenorum.