The Saint Helena crake (''Zapornia astrictocarpus'') is an extinct bird species from the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

in the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, one of two

flightless Flightless birds are birds that cannot fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites ( ostriches, emus, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwis) and penguins. The smal ...

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters * Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fi ...

which survived there until the early 16th century.Storrs L. Olson, Paleornithology of St Helena Island, south Atlantic Ocean, Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 23 (1975) After American

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Alexander Wetmore Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886 – December 7, 1978) was an American ornithologist and avian paleontologist. He was the sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was also an elected member of both the American Philosophical Soc ...

described bones of the large Saint Helena rail (''Aphanocrex podarces'') from Prosperous Bay, Saint Helena, in 1963, American paleontologist

Storrs Olson Storrs Lovejoy Olson (April 3, 1944 – January 20, 2021) was an American biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution, retiring in 2008. One of the world's foremost avian paleontologists, he was best known ...

found almost complete skeletons of the Saint Helena crake in the same region in 1973. These skeletons consist of bones which were smaller than the bones of ''Aphanocrex podarces''. Due to the peculiar shape of the

carpometacarpus The carpometacarpus is a bone found in the hands of birds. It results from the fusion of the carpal and metacarpal bone, and is essentially a single fused bone between the wrist and the knuckles. It is a smallish bone in most birds, generally fla ...

Olson named this species ''Porzana astrictocarpus''. Olson proceeded on the assumption that the Saint Helena crake was a derivative of the

Baillon's crake Baillon's crake (''Zapornia pusilla''), also known as the marsh crake, is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. Distribution Their breeding habitat is sedge beds in Europe, mainly in the east, and across the Palearctic. They used to breed in ...

(''Zapornia pusilla''), which is widespread in Europe and Africa. As there were no predators on Saint Helena, it had lost its ability to fly. However, when Saint Helena was colonised around 1502, the settlers brought a lot of mammals to the island, leading to the out-competition and eventual extinction of the Saint Helena crake.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q259219 Extinct flightless birds

Saint Helena crake The Saint Helena crake (''Zapornia astrictocarpus'') is an extinct bird species from the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, one of two flightless birds, flightless Rallidae, rails which survived there until the ea ...

Bird extinctions since 1500

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Birds described in 1973 Taxa named by Storrs L. Olson Extinct birds of Atlantic islands