The Huahine swamphen (''Porphyrio mcnabi'') is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Rallidae Rails (avian family Rallidae) are a large, Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial and/or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes ...

. It was a small swamphen

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Huahine Huahine is an island located among the Society Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Leeward Islands (Society Islands), Leeward Islands group ''(Îles sous le V ...

in the

Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. It is known only from subfossil remains found at the Fa'ahia

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

on the island. Fa'ahia is an early

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

n occupation site with radiocarbon dates ranging from 700 CE to 1200 CE. The swamphen is only one of a suite of birds found at the site which became extinct either locally or globally following human occupation of the island.

Etymology

The species was named after Brian K. McNab to recognise his research on the evolution and ecology of flightless birds, especially rails, on oceanic islands.

References

* Kirchman, Jeremy J.; & Steadman, David W. (2 April 2006). New Species of Rails (Aves: Rallidae) From an Archaeological Site on Huahine, Society Islands. ''Pacific Science'' 60: 28

Porphyrio Extinct birds of Oceania Birds of the Society Islands Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Holocene extinctions Huahine Birds described in 2006 {{paleo-neornithine-stub