''Mwalau walterlinii'' 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

megapode The megapodes, also known as incubator birds or mound-builders, are stocky, medium-large, chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae. Their name literally means "large foot" and is a reference to the heavy leg ...

from

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

, and the only species in the genus ''Mwalau''. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

and only known specimen is from the

Teouma Teouma is a major archaeological site from Teouma Bay on the island of Éfaté in Vanuatu. The site contains the oldest known cemetery within the Pacific Islands, and has been important in the gathering of information relating to the Lapita peop ...

archeological site on the island of

Efate Efate (), also known as Île Vate (), is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. Geography It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third larg ...

. It was built in similar proportion to the extant

Australian brushturkey The Australian brushturkey, Australian brush-turkey, or gweela (''Alectura lathami''), also frequently called the bush turkey or scrub turkey, is a common, widespread species of mound-building bird from the family (biology), family Megapode, Meg ...

, and, like that species, could fly. It is distinguishable from other extant megapodes by its large size, though it is smaller than the extinct

giant malleefowl ''Progura'' is an extinct genus of megapode that was native to Australia. It was described from Plio-Pleistocene deposits at the Darling Downs and Chinchilla, Queensland, Chinchilla in southeastern Queensland by Charles De Vis. Taxonomy Compa ...

. The scientific and common name honor the first

Prime Minister of Vanuatu The prime minister of Vanuatu is the head of government of the Vanuatu, Republic of Vanuatu. The office of prime minister was created under the Constitution of Vanuatu upon the country's independence in 1980, with independence campaigner Walt ...

Walter Lini Walter Hadye Lin̄i ( ; 1942 – 21 February 1999) was a Raga Anglican priest and politician who was the first Prime Minister of Vanuatu, from independence in 1980 to 1991. He was born at Agatoa village, Pentecost Island. Lin̄i was a key figure ...

. The name of the genus comes from the Laipta name for megapodes.

References

Prehistoric bird genera Birds of Vanuatu Extinct birds of Vanuatu Birds of the Pacific Ocean Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Holocene extinctions Megapodiidae Fossil taxa described in 2015 Birds described in 2015 {{Galliformes-stub