''Mullerornis modestus'' is an extinct species of

elephant bird Elephant birds are extinct flightless birds belonging to the Order (biology), order Aepyornithiformes that were native to the island of Madagascar. They are thought to have gone extinct around 1000 CE, likely as a result of human activity. Eleph ...

, and the only member of the genus ''Mullerornis''.

Taxonomy

The genus is named after Georges Muller, a French explorer, who was killed in 1892 by hostile members of the

Sakalava people The Sakalava are an ethnic group of Madagascar. They are primarily found on the western edge of Madagascar from Toliara in the south to the Sambirano River in the north. The Sakalava constitute about 6.2 percent of the total population, or abou ...

Synonyms of ''Mullerornis modestus''

*''Mullerornis betsilei'' Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1894 (Betsileo elephant bird) * ''Mullerornis agilis'' Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1894 (agile/coastal elephant bird) * ''Mullerornis rudis'' Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1894 (robust elephant bird) * ?''Mullerornis grandis'' Lamberton 1934 (holotype destroyed in a fire in 1995)

Description

''Mullerornis'' is smaller than the more well-known '' Aepyornis,'' with a still substantial body mass of approximately . A bone possibly belonging to ''Mullerornis'' has been

radiocarbon dated Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...

to about 1260 BP, suggesting that the animal was still extant at the end of the first millennium. ''Aepyornis modestus'' was shown by Hansford and Turvey (2018) to be a senior synonym of all nominal ''Mullerornis'' species described by Milne-Edwards and Grandidier (1894), resulting in the new combination ''Mullerornis modestus''.

Palaeobiology

Nocturnality

Like other elephant birds and its

kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), an informal name for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible hairy fruit with many seeds * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of curren ...

relatives, ''Mullerornis'' probably was nocturnal based on the small size of its optic lobes, though it shows less optical lobe reduction than these other taxa, implying slightly more

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...

habits.

Diet

Isotopic evidence suggests that ''Mullerornis'' was likely a

browsing Browsing is a kind of orienting strategy. It is supposed to identify something of relevance for the browsing organism. In context of humans, it is a metaphor taken from the animal kingdom. It is used, for example, about people browsing open sh ...

herbivore.

Reproduction

The eggs of ''Mullerornis'' are substantially smaller than those of ''Aepyornis'', weighting approximately , with a shell thickness of about .

Footnotes

References

* * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q3504307 Elephant birds Holocene extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1894