Extinct Chatham Islands merganser, parrot & penguin

[Michael Szabo]

Extinct Holocene birds of the Chatham Islands: ancient DNA provides new taxonomic and phylogenetic insights https://securepages.co.nz/~gsnz/siteadm ... genesV.pdf

See page 29 in the link:

"The Chatham Island merganser (Mergus n. sp.) represents a new species, distinct from the Auckland Island merganser (Mergus australis)(Williams et al. in review), and genetic work is currently in progress to elucidate the relationships of these taxa."

"The Chatham Islands parrot (Nestor n. sp.) diverged from its sister taxon, the New Zealand kaka, ca. 0.53–3.29 Ma, and was
distinguished by a longer beak, broader pelvis and larger femora (Wood et al. in press)."

"A small Megadyptes penguin occurred formerly on the Chatham Islands, and is nested within the hoiho (Megadyptes antipodes) mitochondrial DNA diversity, although it was ca. 40 % smaller than modern individuals of this species and
ca. 20 % smaller than the extinct Waitaha penguin (M. waitaha)."

[Michael Szabo]

New species of parrot described from the Chatham Islands:
http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/about ... am-islands

Link to Absract: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 4/abstract