Mauritius Night Heron

Drawing from subfossil bones of Mauritius Night Heron

The Mauritius Night Heron (Nycticorax mauritianus ) is an extinct endemic Night Heron of Mauritius. He is known only by seven fragments that were found in Mare aux Songes. These fragments were, inter alia, from the skull, pelvis, ulna, the coracoid, the tarsometatarsus and the spoke. Today only but the coracoid and the tarsometatarsus are available. This species was first described in 1893 by Alfred Newton and Hans Gadow from Cambridge University, who reported the tarsometatarsus with a length of 81-87 millimeters. He was probably first mentioned in a travel report by François Leguat from 1693 and its extinction is assumed for the late 17th century.