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Dinornithidae
The giant moa (''Dinornis'') is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. As with other moa, it was a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of ''Dinornis'' are considered valid, the North Island giant moa (''Dinornis novaezealandiae'') and the South Island giant moa (''Dinornis robustus''). In addition, two further species (new lineage A and lineage B) have been suggested based on distinct DNA lineages. Description ''Dinornis'' may have been the tallest bird that ever lived, with the females standing around tall,Wood, Gerald (1983) and weighing an estimated Amadon, D. (1947) or Campbell Jr., K. & Marcus, L. (1992) in various estimates. However, the males of the genus were much smaller, only around . Feather remains are reddish brown and hair-like, and covered most of the body except the lower legs and most of the head (plus a small portion of the neck below the head). While no feathers have been found from moa chick ...
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North Island Giant Moa
The North Island giant moa (''Dinornis novaezealandiae'') is an extinct moa in the genus ''Dinornis'', known in Māori as kuranui. It was a large, herbivorous bird belonging to the order Dinornithiformes, and exhibited a strong sexual dimorphism, with males weighing between 55 and 88 kg and females between 78 and 249 kg. It would have been the tallest bird ever to exist, able to stretch their heads to approximately 3 metres. ''Dinornis robustus'' inhabited the North Island of New Zealand, living in lowland habitats like shrublands, grasslands and forests, fulfilling a role as one of the largest terrestrial herbivores in New Zealand's ecosystem. It would have been primarily herbivorous, although consumption of fungi has also been proposed. They laid large, fragile eggs which were incubated by the males, although the exact method is unknown. Along with much of the other native fauna, ''Dinornis novaezealandiae'' disappeared from New Zealand around the 15th century, roughly 200 ...
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Dinornis Novaezealandiae
The North Island giant moa (''Dinornis novaezealandiae'') is an extinct moa in the genus '' Dinornis'', known in Māori as kuranui. It was a large, herbivorous bird belonging to the order Dinornithiformes, and exhibited a strong sexual dimorphism, with males weighing between 55 and 88 kg and females between 78 and 249 kg. It would have been the tallest bird ever to exist, able to stretch their heads to approximately 3 metres. ''Dinornis robustus'' inhabited the North Island of New Zealand, living in lowland habitats like shrublands, grasslands and forests, fulfilling a role as one of the largest terrestrial herbivores in New Zealand's ecosystem. It would have been primarily herbivorous, although consumption of fungi has also been proposed. They laid large, fragile eggs which were incubated by the males, although the exact method is unknown. Along with much of the other native fauna, ''Dinornis novaezealandiae'' disappeared from New Zealand around the 15th century, roughly 200 ...
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South Island Giant Moa
The South Island giant moa (''Dinornis robustus'') is an extinct species of moa in the genus ''Dinornis'', known in Māori language, Māori by the name moa nunui. It was one of the tallest-known bird species to walk the Earth, exceeded in weight only by the heavier but shorter extinct elephant bird of Madagascar. Taxonomy Moa were Ratite, ratites: large, flightless birds with a sternum, but lacking a Keel (bird anatomy), keel. They also had a distinctive jaw and palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer, and it is now believed that early, flighted ancestors of these birds dispersed into the Southern Hemisphere, where most flightless ratites have been found. Despite being geographically closer to the kiwi (bird), kiwi, phylogenetic analyses based on recovered DNA show moa to have been closest to the Central and South American tinamous. South island giant moa belong to the genus ''Dinornis'', and are placed within their own family, Dinornithidae, along with their ...
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Dinornis Robustus
The South Island giant moa (''Dinornis robustus'') is an extinct species of moa in the genus '' Dinornis'', known in Māori by the name moa nunui. It was one of the tallest-known bird species to walk the Earth, exceeded in weight only by the heavier but shorter extinct elephant bird of Madagascar. Taxonomy Moa were ratites: large, flightless birds with a sternum, but lacking a keel. They also had a distinctive jaw and palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer, and it is now believed that early, flighted ancestors of these birds dispersed into the Southern Hemisphere, where most flightless ratites have been found. Despite being geographically closer to the kiwi, phylogenetic analyses based on recovered DNA show moa to have been closest to the Central and South American tinamous. South island giant moa belong to the genus ''Dinornis'', and are placed within their own family, Dinornithidae, along with their close relative '' Dinornis novaezealandiae'' from th ...
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Megalapteryx Didinus
The upland moa (''Megalapteryx didinus'') is an extinct species of moa that was endemic to New Zealand. The species was named by Richard Owen in 1883, and belongs to the ratites, a group of flightless birds with no keel on the sternum. Of all moa species, ''Megalapteryx didinus'' has the best-preserved specimens, which occasionally also show impressions of soft tissue. The upland moa lived on the South Island of New Zealand, and was predominantly found in alpine and sub-alpine environment where it fed on flowers, herbs and other vegetation. After the Māori arrived in New Zealand and started hunting it, the species went extinct around 1500 CE. It was the last remaining moa species. Taxonomy The upland moa was named as ''Dinornis didinus'' in 1883 by Richard Owen from mummified material found in 1878 by H. L. Squires in Queenstown, New Zealand and subsequently sent to the British Museum. The holotype specimen consists of a mummified head and partial neck, and two mummified legs ...
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Dinornis Robustus, South Island Giant Moa - Three Quarter View On Black YORYM 2004 20
The giant moa (''Dinornis'') is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. As with other moa, it was a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of ''Dinornis'' are considered valid, the North Island giant moa (''Dinornis novaezealandiae'') and the South Island giant moa (''Dinornis robustus''). In addition, two further species (new lineage A and lineage B) have been suggested based on distinct DNA lineages. Description ''Dinornis'' may have been the tallest bird that ever lived, with the females standing around tall,Wood, Gerald (1983) and weighing an estimated Amadon, D. (1947) or Campbell Jr., K. & Marcus, L. (1992) in various estimates. However, the males of the genus were much smaller, only around . Feather remains are reddish brown and hair-like, and covered most of the body except the lower legs and most of the head (plus a small portion of the neck below the head). While no feathers have been found from moa chicks, ...
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Pachyornis
''Pachyornis'' is an extinct genus of ratites from New Zealand which belongs to the moa family. Like all ratites, ''Pachyornis'' is a flightless bird with a sternum that lacks a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The genus currently contains three currently recognised species: the type species, ''Pachyornis geranoides'', ''P. elephantopus'' and ''P. australis''. Two distinct genetic lineages, one each recovered from the North and South Island, could possibly expand this number to five in the future. The three species of ''Pachyornis'' are the most stoutly built and heavy-legged across all species of Dinornithiformes, the species that exhibits the most extreme morphology of the genus is the heavy-footed moa ''P. elephantopus''. ''Pachyornis'' was generally similar to the eastern moa or the broad-billed moa of the genus ''Euryapteryx'', but differed in having a pointed bill and being more heavyset. At least one species, ''P. australis'', is assumed to have had a crest of ...
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Pachyornis Australis
''Pachyornis'' is an extinct genus of ratites from New Zealand which belongs to the moa family. Like all ratites, ''Pachyornis'' is a flightless bird with a sternum that lacks a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The genus currently contains three currently recognised species: the type species, ''Pachyornis geranoides'', ''P. elephantopus'' and ''P. australis''. Two distinct genetic lineages, one each recovered from the North and South Island, could possibly expand this number to five in the future. The three species of ''Pachyornis'' are the most stoutly built and heavy-legged across all species of Dinornithiformes, the species that exhibits the most extreme morphology of the genus is the heavy-footed moa ''P. elephantopus''. ''Pachyornis'' was generally similar to the eastern moa or the broad-billed moa of the genus ''Euryapteryx'', but differed in having a pointed bill and being more heavyset. At least one species, ''P. australis'', is assumed to have had a crest of l ...
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Pachyornis Elephantopus
The heavy-footed moa (''Pachyornis elephantopus'') is an extinct species of moa from the lesser moa family. The heavy-footed moa was widespread across the South Island of New Zealand, and inhabited lowland environments like shrublands, dunelands, grasslands, and forests. Moa are ratites, flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate.Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003) The heavy-footed moa was about tall, and weighed as much as .Olliver, Narena (2005) Three complete or partially complete moa eggs in museum collections are considered eggs of the heavy-footed moa, all sourced from Otago. These eggs have an average length of and a width of , making these the second-largest moa eggs, behind the single South Island giant moa egg specimen. Taxonomy The heavy-footed moa was originally described as ''Dinornis elephantopus'' by the biologist Richard Owen in 1856 from leg bones found by Walter Mantell at Awamoa, near Oamaru, and given by him to the Natur ...
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Pachyornis Geranoides
''Pachyornis'' is an extinct genus of ratites from New Zealand which belongs to the moa family. Like all ratites, ''Pachyornis'' is a flightless bird with a sternum that lacks a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The genus currently contains three currently recognised species: the type species, ''Pachyornis geranoides'', ''P. elephantopus'' and ''P. australis''. Two distinct genetic lineages, one each recovered from the North and South Island, could possibly expand this number to five in the future. The three species of ''Pachyornis'' are the most stoutly built and heavy-legged across all species of Dinornithiformes, the species that exhibits the most extreme morphology of the genus is the heavy-footed moa ''P. elephantopus''. ''Pachyornis'' was generally similar to the eastern moa or the broad-billed moa of the genus ''Euryapteryx'', but differed in having a pointed bill and being more heavyset. At least one species, ''P. australis'', is assumed to have had a crest of ...
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Cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to descendants, nor does it show how much they have changed, so many differing evolutionary trees can be consistent with the same cladogram. A cladogram uses lines that branch off in different directions ending at a clade, a group of organisms with a last common ancestor. There are many shapes of cladograms but they all have lines that branch off from other lines. The lines can be traced back to where they branch off. These branching off points represent a hypothetical ancestor (not an actual entity) which can be inferred to exhibit the traits shared among the terminal taxa above it. This hypothetical ancestor might then provide clues about the order of evolution of various features, adaptation, and other e ...
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Herb
Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distinguishes herbs from spices. ''Herbs'' generally refers to the leafy green or flowering parts of a plant (either fresh or dried), while ''spices'' are usually dried and produced from other parts of the plant, including seeds, bark, roots and fruits. Herbs have a variety of uses including culinary, medicinal, aromatic and in some cases, spiritual. General usage of the term "herb" differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs; in medicinal or spiritual use, any parts of the plant might be considered "herbs", including leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, root bark, inner bark (and cambium), resin and pericarp. The word "herb" is pronounced in Commonwealth English, but is standard among American English speakers as well as those from regio ...
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