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Mesopteryx Alata
''Mesopteryx'' may refer to: * ''Mesopteryx'' (bird) Hutton, 1891, a synonym of ''Emeus'', the eastern moa * ''Mesopteryx'' (mantis) Saussure, 1870, a genus of praying mantis {{Genus disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopteryx (bird)
The eastern moa (''Emeus crassus'') is an extinct species of moa. When the first specimens were originally described by Richard Owen, they were placed within the genus '' Dinornis'' as three different species, but, was later split off into their own genus, ''Emeus''. ''E. crassus'' is currently the only species of ''Emeus'', as the other two species, ''E. casuarinus'' and ''E. huttonii'' are now regarded as synonyms of ''E. crassus''. It has been long suspected that the "species" described as ''Emeus huttonii'' and ''E. crassus'' were males and females, respectively, of a single species. This has been confirmed by analysis for sex-specific genetic markers of DNA extracted from bone material; the females of ''E. crassus'' were 15-25% larger than males.Huynen, L. J., ''et al.'' (2003) This phenomenon — reverse size dimorphism — is not uncommon amongst ratites, being also very pronounced in kiwis. Description ''Emeus'' was of average size, standing tall. Like other moa, it h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
