Lesser moa

{{Short description|Family of extinct birds}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2024}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Pleistocene-Holocene

| image = Emeus crassus 5435.JPG

| image_caption = Skeleton of the eastern moa (Emeus crassus) in Musee des Confluences, Lyon

| taxon = Emeidae

| authority = (Bonaparte, 1854){{cite web |author = Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand |date=2010 |title=Checklist-of-Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands and the Ross Dependency Antarctica |url=http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/checklist/Checklist-of-Birds.pdf |publisher=Te Papa Press |volume= |issue= |pages= |access-date= 4 January 2016}}

| type_species = Emeus crassus

| type_species_authority = (Owen, 1846) Reichenbach 1853 non Parker 1895

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

Anomalopteryx didiformis Bush moa

Emeus crassus Eastern moa

Euryapteryx curtus Broad-billed moa

Pachyornis australis Crested moa

Pachyornis elephantopus Heavy-footed moa

Pachyornis geranoides Mantell's moa

}}

The lesser moa{{efn|The word “moa” is from the Māori language, and is both singular and plural. Usage in New Zealand English and in the scientific literature in recent years has been changing to reflect this.}} (family Emeidae) were a family in the moa order Dinornithiformes. About two-thirds of all moa species are in the lesser moa family.{{Cite web |title=moa {{!}} Size, Extinction, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/moa |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} The moa were ratites from New Zealand: flightless birds with a sternum but without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of the ratites is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas that they have been found in.