eastern moa

When the first specimens were originally described by Richard Owen in 1846, they were placed within the genus Dinornis as three different species. These remains would later be split off into their own genus, Emeus.{{cite journal |last1=Owen|first1=Richard |year=1846 |title=Description of Dinornis crassus |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |volume=1846 |pages=46 }} The other two species, E. casuarinus and E. huttonii are currently regarded as junior synonyms of E. crassus, and the genus currently contains this single species. It has been long suspected that the "species" described as Emeus huttonii and E. crassus were males and females, respectively, of a single species. This has been confirmed by analysis for sex-specific genetic markers of DNA extracted from bone material; the females of E. crassus were 15-25% larger than males.{{cite journal |last1=Huynen|first1=Leon J. | last2=Millar|first2=Craig D.|last3=Scofield|first3=R. P. | last4=Lambert|first4= David M. |year=2003 |title=Nuclear DNA sequences detect species limits in ancient moa |journal=Nature |volume=425 |issue=6954 |pages=175–178 |pmid= 12968179|doi= 10.1038/nature01838|bibcode=2003Natur.425..175H |s2cid=4413995 }}(2003) This phenomenon — sexual dimorphism — is not uncommon amongst ratites, being also very pronounced in kiwi and the related moa genus Dinornis.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

File:Emeus crassus.jpg]]

Emeus was of average size, standing {{convert|1.5|to(-)|1.8|m|ft}} tall, and weighing from 36 to 79kg.{{Cite book |last1=Tennyson |first1=Alan |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q63353412 |title=Extinct Birds of New Zealand |last2=Martinson |first2=Paul |date=2006-01-01 |publisher=Te Papa Press |isbn=978-0-909010-21-8}} Like other moa, it had no vestigial wing bones, hair-like feathers (beige in this case), a long neck and large, powerful legs with very short, strong tarsi. Its tarsometatarsus was restricted in motion to the parasagittal plane, a condition much like that in most other ratites.{{Cite journal |last=Zinoviev |first=Andrei V. |date=14 March 2015 |title=Comparative anatomy of the intertarsal joint in extant and fossil birds: inferences for the locomotion of Hesperornis regalis (Hesperornithiformes) and Emeus crassus (Dinornithiformes) |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10336-015-1195-4 |journal=Journal of Ornithology |language=en |volume=156 |issue=S1 |pages=317–323 |doi=10.1007/s10336-015-1195-4 |bibcode=2015JOrni.156..317Z |issn=2193-7192 |access-date=26 July 2024 |via=Springer Link|url-access=subscription }} It also had a sternum without a keel and a distinctive palate. Emeus had pelvic musculature poorly adapted for cursoriality.{{Cite journal |last=Zinoviev |first=A. V. |date=19 December 2013 |title=Notes on the pelvic musculature of Emeus crassus and Dinornis robustus (Aves: Dinornithiformes) |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1134/S003103011311018X |journal=Paleontological Journal |language=en |volume=47 |issue=11 |pages=1245–1251 |doi=10.1134/S003103011311018X |bibcode=2013PalJ...47.1245Z |issn=0031-0301 |access-date=26 July 2024 |via=Springer Link|url-access=subscription }} Its feet were exceptionally wide compared to other moas, making it a very slow creature. Soft parts of its body, such as tracheal rings (cartilage) or remnants of skin have been found in the form of mummified specimens, as well as single bones and complete skeletons. As they neared the head, the feathers grew shorter, until they finally turned into coarse hair-like feathers; the head itself was probably bald.{{cite journal |last1=Rawlence |first1=Nj |last2=Wood |first2=Jr |last3=Scofield |first3=Rp |last4=Fraser |first4=C |last5=Tennyson |first5=Ajd |title=Soft-tissue specimens from pre-European extinct birds of New Zealand |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand |date=2013 |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=154–181 |doi=10.1080/03036758.2012.704878|bibcode=2013JRSNZ..43..154R |hdl=10289/7785 |s2cid=54024852 |hdl-access=free }}

File:Animals of the past BHL18007259.jpg

Eastern moa lived only on the South Island of New Zealand, inhabiting lowland habitats like forests, grasslands, dunelands, and shrublands.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Davies |first=S. J. J. F.|editor=Hutchins, Michael |encyclopedia=Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia |title=Moas |edition=2 |year=2003 |publisher=Gale Group |volume=8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins |location=Farmington Hills, MI|isbn=0-7876-5784-0 |pages=95–98}} During the Last Glacial Maximum, it was confined to a single glacial refugium, from which its range expanded during the Holocene.{{Cite journal |last1=Verry |first1=Alexander J. F. |last2=Mitchell |first2=Kieren J. |last3=Rawlence |first3=Nicolas J. |date=11 May 2022 |title=Genetic evidence for post-glacial expansion from a southern refugium in the eastern moa ( Emeus crassus ) |journal=Biology Letters |language=en |volume=18 |issue=5 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2022.0013 |issn=1744-957X |pmc=9091836 |pmid=35538842}} Human colonists (specifically the Māori, who called the animals "moa mōmona") hunted Emeus into extinction with relative ease. E. crassus was the second most common species found at the Wairau Bar site in Marlborough, where the remains of more than 4000 eaten moa were found. The species had gone extinct around the year 1400.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=710922 Eastern Moa. Emeus crassus.] by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006

{{Palaeognathae|N.}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1268926}}

Category:Extinct flightless birds

Category:Extinct birds of New Zealand

Category:Late Quaternary prehistoric birds

Category:Ratites

Category:Holocene extinctions