Marquesas swamphen (''Porphyrio paepae'') is a presumably extinct species of

swamphen ''Porphyrio'' is the swamphen or swamp hen bird genus in the rail family. It includes some smaller species which are usually called "purple gallinules", and which are sometimes separated as genus ''Porphyrula'' or united with the gallinules pro ...

from the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands (; french: Îles Marquises or ' or '; Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan Marquesan is a collection of East-Central Polynesian dialects, of the Marquesic group, spoken in the Marquesas Islands of ...

Hiva Oa With its , Hiva Oa is the second largest island in the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Located at 9 45' south latitude and 139 W longitude, it is the largest island of the southern Mar ...

and

Tahuata Tahuata is the smallest of the inhabited Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It is located 4 km (2.5 mi.) to the south of the western end of Hiva Oa, across the Canal du Bordela ...

. It was originally described from 600-year-old subfossil remains from

and

. It may have survived to around 1900; in the lower right corner of

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

's 1902 painting ''Le Sorcier d'Hiva Oa ou le Marquisien à la cape rouge''''« ��d’Hiva Oa ��'' as such, is pronounced /diˈva oˈa/, while the Polynesian h is always a /ɦ/: this shows Gauguin had a very poor knowledge of the Polynesian languages. He should have written ''de Hiva Oa''. Despite Polynesian inscriptions, often approximative, Gauguin seems to have been unable to speak any Polynesian languages, as it is said locally. there is a bird which resembles native descriptions of ''Porphyrio paepae''.

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000& ...

claimed to have seen a similar

flightless bird Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites (ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwi) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the ...

on Hiva Oa in 1937.

Notes

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q979902 Marquesas swamphen Birds of the Marquesas Islands Extinct birds of Oceania Holocene extinctions Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Marquesas swamphen