Marquesas swamphen

{{short description|Extinct species of bird}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Marquesas swamphen

| image = Paul Gauguin - Le Sorcier d'Hiva Oa2.jpg

| image_caption = Paul Gauguin's 1902 probable depiction of the Marquesan swamphen (Porphyrio paepae) being killed by a dog.

| status = EX

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2017 |title=Porphyrio paepae |volume=2017 |page=e.T62263064A119207668 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T62263064A119207668.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| genus = Porphyrio

| species = paepae

| authority = Steadman, 1988

}}

The Marquesas swamphen (Porphyrio paepae) is an extinct species of swamphen from the Marquesas Islands Hiva Oa and Tahuata. It was originally described from 600-year-old subfossil remains from Tahuata and Hiva Oa.{{cite journal |last1=Steadman |first1=D.W. | date=1988 |title=A new species of Porphyrio (Aves, Rallidae) from archaeological sites in the Marquesas Islands | journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington | volume=101 | issue=1 | pages=162–170 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34645843 }} It may have survived to around 1900; in the lower right corner of Paul Gauguin'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.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} there is a bird which resembles native descriptions of Porphyrio paepae. Thor Heyerdahl claimed to have seen a similar flightless bird on Hiva Oa in 1937.{{cite book

| last1 = Hume

| first1 = J. P.

| first2 = M.

| last2 = Walters

|year= 2012

|title= Extinct Birds

|publisher= A & C Black

|location= London

|pages= 116–117

|isbn=978-1-4081-5725-1}}