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Extinct species of bird From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anas chathamica, the Chatham duck or Chatham Island duck is an extinct species of duck which once lived in New Zealand's Chatham Islands in the south-west Pacific Ocean. It likely became extinct in about the 16th century because of hunting by humans.[1]
Anas chathamica Temporal range: Late Pleistocene-Holocene | |
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Skull of Anas chathamica from the Te Papa collections | |
Extinct (16th century) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Anseriformes |
Family: | Anatidae |
Genus: | Anas |
Species: | †A. chathamica |
Binomial name | |
†Anas chathamica Oliver, 1955 | |
The species was formerly placed in a monotypic genus Pachyanas. However, analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from subfossil remains[2] showed that the Chatham duck was not, in fact, closely related to shelducks but instead belongs in the genus Anas: the dabbling ducks. Its closest living relatives appear to be the Auckland teal, Campbell teal and the brown teal from New Zealand.
It was described by Walter Oliver (as a "stoutly built duck") from bird bones in the collection of the Canterbury Museum in 1955 in the second edition of his work New Zealand Birds.[3] Some authors have suggested that the Chatham duck was flightless;[4] however, comparison of Chatham duck wing bones with those from living ducks indicates no disproportional reduction in wing length.[2]
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