Dryolimnas sp. nov. (Sauzier's wood-rail) (1 Viewer)

The paper is currently in review and will be published probably in 2019

HUME, J.P. (in review): Systematics, morphology, and ecology of rails (Aves: Rallidae) of the Mascarene Islands, with one new species. – Zootaxa.

I've got a new mail from Julian Hume where he confirmed that the monograph on the Mascarene rails has been accepted and will be published soon. There will be also a new article by him (also soon) where he explains that rails on the Indian Ocean islands (Aldabra, Mascarenes) evolved flightlessness twice.

Melanie said:

I've got a new mail from Julian Hume where he confirmed that the monograph on the Mascarene rails has been accepted and will be published soon. There will be also a new article by him (also soon) where he explains that rails on the Indian Ocean islands (Aldabra, Mascarenes) evolved flightlessness twice.

Click to expand...

:t: Good news.

Julian P. Hume & David Martill, 2019

Repeated evolution of flightlessness in Dryolimnas rails (Aves: Rallidae) after extinction and recolonization on Aldabra

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. in press. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz018

Abstract: https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean...innean/zlz018/5487031?redirectedFrom=fulltext

The Aldabra rail, Dryolimnas cuvieri subsp. aldabranus, endemic to the Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles, is the last surviving flightless bird in the Indian Ocean. Aldabra has undergone at least one major, total inundation event during an Upper Pleistocene (Tarantian age) sea-level high-stand, resulting in the loss of all terrestrial fauna. A flightless Dryolimnas has been identified from two temporally separated Aldabran fossil localities, deposited before and after the inundation event, providing irrefutable evidence that a member of Rallidae colonized the atoll, most likely from Madagascar, and became flightless independently on each occasion. Fossil evidence presented here is unique for Rallidae and epitomizes the ability of birds from this clade to successfully colonize isolated islands and evolve flightlessness on multiple occasions.

Enjoy,

Fred

It looks like many bird species on oceanic islands are short-lived. It would comply with the suggestion that populations on small islands of habitat are vulnerable to extinction from natural reasons. It looks like Dryolimnas colonized Aldabra 3 times in recent times, 3 times evolved flightnesses and 2 times got extinct. It remembers of bone findings of Houbara on Fuerteventura, which suggest that it colonized Fuerteventura, got extinct and recolonized during the last 100,000 years.

News:

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/...e-indian-ocean-evolved-flightlessness-tw.html

https://uopnews.port.ac.uk/2019/05/09/the-bird-that-came-back-from-the-dead/

Fred

The long awaited Mascarene rail publication by Julian Hume has been finally published:

Systematics, morphology and ecology of rails (Aves: Rallidae) of the Mascarene Islands, with one new species
JULIAN PENDER HUME

Abstract

Five species in five genera of extinct endemic rails have been described from the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues: the Mauritian Red Rail or Poule Rouge Aphanapteryx bonasia; Mascarene Coot or Poule d’eau Fulica newtonii; which occurred on Mauritius and Réunion; Réunion Wood Rail Dryolimnas augusti; Réunion Gallinule or Oiseaux bleu ‘Porphyrio caerulescens’; and Rodrigues or Leguat’s Rail Erythromachus leguati. All are known from fossil remains and/or from contemporary accounts and illustrations. A sixth species of rail Dryolimnas sp. nov. is described herein from fossils from Mauritius, but was not unequivocally previously reported in the contemporary literature. This paper provides an analysis of the Rallidae of the Mascarene Islands based on existing and newly discovered fossil remains, and details historical reports and accounts. Comprehensive osteological descriptions and synonymies are also included. Their ecology and extinction chronologies are interpreted from historical ev*idence. The relationships of Aphanapteryx and Erythromachus are unresolved, having clearly been isolated for a considerable time; the middle Miocene is the earliest their ancestors could have arrived on the Mascarenes, but this may have happened more recently. Mascarene derivatives of Fulica, Porphyrio and Dryolimnas are of much more recent origin, and appear to have originated in Africa or Madagascar. All terrestrial rails on Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues, were probable victims of cat predation following their historic introduction to the islands, whereas over-hunting by humans was probably the primary cause of extinction of ‘Porphyrio caerulescens’ on Réunion. The only extant rail on the Mascarenes today, the Madagascar race of Eurasian Moorhen Gallinula chloropus pyrrhorrhoa, is a recent arrival, having colonised Mauritius and Réunion after the extinction of Fulica newtonii.



Keywords

Aves, Mascarene rails, Rallidae, Aphanapteryx, Erythromachus, Dryolimnas, Porphyrio, Gallinula, Leguatia, extinction, affinities, ecology, sexual dimorphism

mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4626.1.1

There is finally a name:

Cheke's wood rail ( Dryolimnas chekei). Though it was initionally planned to name this bird after Theodore Sauzier who collected the holotype between 1889–91.

Etymology: Named in honour of my friend and colleague, Anthony Cheke, in recognition of his unparalleled lifelong contribution to Mascarene ecological history.

I am curious when Dryolimnas chekei will be recognized by the IOC respectively BLI/IUCN. Eudyptes warhami for example is still not recognized by the IOC.

Systematics

Class Aves Linnaeus, 1758.
Order Gruiformes Bonaparte, 1854.
Family Rallidae Rafinesque, 1815.
Genus Aphanapteryx Frauenfeld, 1868a.
†Mauritian Red Rail (Poule Rouge) Aphanapteryx bonasia (Sélys-Longchamps, 1848).
Genus Erythromachus Milne-Edwards, 1874.
†Rodrigues Rail or Leguat’s Rail Erythromachus leguati Milne-Edwards, 1874.
Genus Hypotaenidia Reichenbach, 1853.
Buff-banded Rail Hypotaenidia philippensis (Linnaeus, 1766).
Genus Dryolimnas Sharpe, 1893.
White-throated Rail Dryolimnas cuvieri (Pucheran, 1845)

†Cheke’s Wood Rail Dryolimnas chekei sp. nov.
Holotype: Tarsometatarsus: UMZC 300AA5 (R) (Fig. 30B) collected at the Mare aux Songes, south-east Mauritius, by Théodore Sauzier in 1889–91. A. Newton referred it to Gallinula [chloropus] pyrrhorrhoa in error (see Cowles 1987).
Type locality: Mare aux Songes, Mauritius, Mascarene Islands.
Distribution: Mauritius, Mascarene Islands.
Etymology: Named in honour of my friend and colleague, Anthony Cheke, in recognition of his unparalleled lifelong contribution to Mascarene ecological history
Paratypes: Collected at the Mare aux Songes by Théodore Sauzier in 1889–91. Mis-identified as Gallinula [chloropus] pyrrhorrhoa by A. Newton (see Cowles 1987). Pelvis: UMZC 300AA6; tibiotarsus: UMZC 300AA3 (R); UMZC 300AA4 (L).
Referred fossil material: All collected at the Vallée des Prêtres, Moka Range, central-west Mauritius. Some of the following specimens are bulk-registered, so a few numbers are duplicated. Rostrum: UMZC 593.B; UMZC 593. B; humerus: UMZC 300AA1 (L); UMZC 300AA2 (R) (these may be associated); MNHN Mad7136 (R); MNHN MAD7136 (Rd); femur: MNHN MAD8867 (Lp); MNHN MAD7159 (Rp); tibiotarsus: MNHN MAD8867 (Lp); MNHN MAD7159 (Rp); tarsometatarsus: UMZC 593b (R).

†Réunion Wood Rail Dryolimnas augusti Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1999
Genus Porphyrio Brisson, 1760.
†Réunion Gallinule (Oiseaux Bleu) ‘Porphyrio caerulescens’ (Sélys‑Longchamps, 1848).
African Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio madagascariensis (Latham, 1801)
Allen’s Gallinule Porphyrio alleni Thomson, 1842.
Genus Fulica Linnaeus, 1758.
†Mascarene Coot Fulica newtonii Milne-Edwards, 1867b.
Genus Gallinula Brisson, 1760 .
Madagascan Moorhen Gallinula chloropus pyrrhorrhoa A. Newton, 1861b
Géant or Leguat’s Giant Leguatia gigantea Schlegel, 1857
Order Phoenicopteriformes Fürbringer, 1888.
Family Phoenicopteridae Bonaparte, 1831.
Genus Phoenicopterus Linnaeus, 1758.
Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas, 1811

Fred