Réunion Rail

The Reunion Rail ( Dryolimnas augusti ) is an extinct Rallenart that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Réunion.

Etymology

The specific epithet honors the French poet Auguste de Villèle (1858-1943), whose untiring interest in the history of Reunion and its hospitality has enabled numerous naturalists to explore the caves Reunion and explore.

Description

The material found in 1996 includes two complete Tarsometatarsi and two Tibiotarsi, five vertebrae, a sacrum, a coracoid, two humeri, an ulna, femur, three, ten toes bones and a fragment of left mandible. The nature of the bone, the Réunion - Rail as a close relative of the White-throated Rail ( Dryolimnas cuvieri ) and the Aldabra White-throated Rail ( Dryolimnas cuvieri aldabranus ). The long, strong tarsometatarsus characterizes the Reunion Rail as the largest known species of the genus Dryolimnas.

Research history and extinction

The subfossil remains of Reunion Rail were in the fossil deposit " cavern de la Tortue " discovered in 1996 in Réunion and scientifically described in 1999.

Presumably, a travelogue from 1674, when French explorers Dubois a bird named " Râle des Bois " ( German: Woodhen ) refers mentioned on this Article The Reunion Rail must not, however, with the Reunion Purple Gallinule ( Porphyrio coerulescens ) are confused, which had referred to Dubois in the same report as the " Oiseau Bleu ". During the Reunion Purpurhuhn reached about the size of the Reunion Ibis ( Threskiornis solitarius ), the Réunion - Rail was about as large as the Common Moorhen ( Gallinula chloropus). The Reunion Rail was probably incapable of flight, as the size ratio of the wing-bones in comparison to the leg bone, has similarities with the bone which also flightless Aldabra White-throated Rail.

The Reunion Rail probably died out in the late 17th century.