New Zealand Musk Duck
Encyclopedia
The New Zealand Musk Duck (Biziura delautouri ), also known as de Lautour’s Duck, is an extinct
stiff-tailed duck
native to New Zealand
. It is only known from prehistoric subfossil
bones. Its closest relative was the living Australian Musk Duck
Biziura lobata, with which it has sometimes been combined.
associated with large numbers of moa
bones, was made at Enfield, near Oamaru
on the South Island
of New Zealand. It was first described, as Biziura delautouri, in March 1892 by Dr Henry Forbes
, the director of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch
at the time, who named it after Dr H. de Lautour of Oamaru who helped acquire the specimen. Another paper by Forbes published in the Transactions and proceedings of the New Zealand Institute two months later used the spelling Biziura lautouri; however, the earlier name has priority.
Subsequently additional material was obtained from Marfells Beach, adjacent to Lake Grassmere
at the north-eastern end of the South Island, and described in 1969 by Ron Scarlett
, who considered the bird to be referable to B. lobata. Later finds of musk duck fossils have been made at Lake Poukawa
and Waikuku Beach on the North Island.
with males being considerably larger than females. However, an analysis of the available Biziura material from New Zealand by Trevor Worthy indicates that the bird was distinctly larger than its Australian relative. Allowing for the larger size, the measurements indicate that the New Zealand bird also had relatively bigger legs and shorter wings than the Australian, suggesting that it was becoming more sedentary although still fully capable of flight. The combination of differences in size, as well as in shapes and the relative proportions of the bones, confirm that the New Zealand Musk Duck was a distinct species.
It became extinct in about the 16th century because of hunting by humans.
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
stiff-tailed duck
Stiff-tailed duck
The stiff-tailed ducks are part of the Oxyurinae subfamily of ducks. All have, as their name implies, long stiff tail feathers, which are erected when the bird is at rest. All have relatively large swollen bills.These are freshwater diving ducks...
native to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is only known from prehistoric subfossil
Subfossil
Subfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....
bones. Its closest relative was the living Australian Musk Duck
Musk Duck
The Musk Duck is a highly aquatic, stiff-tailed duck native to southern Australia. It is the only living member of the genus Biziura. An extinct relative, the New Zealand Musk Duck or de Lautour's Duck , once occurred on New Zealand, but is only known from prehistoric subfossil bones...
Biziura lobata, with which it has sometimes been combined.
History
The first discovery of the fossil remains of the duck, a single tarsometatarsusTarsometatarsus
The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is found in the lower leg of certain tetrapods, namely birds.It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsal and metatarsal bones...
associated with large numbers of moa
Moa
The moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
bones, was made at Enfield, near Oamaru
Oamaru
Oamaru , the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin, on the Pacific coast, and State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connects it to both...
on the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
of New Zealand. It was first described, as Biziura delautouri, in March 1892 by Dr Henry Forbes
Henry Ogg Forbes
Henry Ogg Forbes was a Scottish explorer, ornithologist, and botanist. Educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh, he was primarily active in the Moluccas and New Guinea, he served as director of the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand between...
, the director of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
at the time, who named it after Dr H. de Lautour of Oamaru who helped acquire the specimen. Another paper by Forbes published in the Transactions and proceedings of the New Zealand Institute two months later used the spelling Biziura lautouri; however, the earlier name has priority.
Subsequently additional material was obtained from Marfells Beach, adjacent to Lake Grassmere
Lake Grassmere
Lake Grassmere is close to Cook Strait in the northeastern South Island of New Zealand.- Geography :Lake Grassmere, south of Blenheim and south of the mouth of the Awatere River, is a shallow lagoon protected from the open sea by a single barrier beach covered by sand dunes...
at the north-eastern end of the South Island, and described in 1969 by Ron Scarlett
Ron Scarlett
Ronald Jack Scarlett MBE better known as Ron Scarlett was a paleozoologist from New Zealand.Scarlett was born at Stoke, near Nelson on March 22, 1911 to Walter Andrew Scarlett and Lilian Elsie . He was the oldest child of four brothers and four sisters...
, who considered the bird to be referable to B. lobata. Later finds of musk duck fossils have been made at Lake Poukawa
Lake Poukawa
Lake Poukawa is a small shallow hardwater lake in the Hawke's Bay Region, North Island, New Zealand. It is located about 20 km south-west of Hastings, New Zealand, close to the settlement of Te Hauke. It is the largest lake lying within a peatland in the active tectonic Poukawa depression, between...
and Waikuku Beach on the North Island.
Description
The duck was evidently very similar to the Australian Musk Duck, though complications in interpreting measurements of the bones arise from the Australian, and apparently the New Zealand, birds' strong sexual dimorphismSexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
with males being considerably larger than females. However, an analysis of the available Biziura material from New Zealand by Trevor Worthy indicates that the bird was distinctly larger than its Australian relative. Allowing for the larger size, the measurements indicate that the New Zealand bird also had relatively bigger legs and shorter wings than the Australian, suggesting that it was becoming more sedentary although still fully capable of flight. The combination of differences in size, as well as in shapes and the relative proportions of the bones, confirm that the New Zealand Musk Duck was a distinct species.
Ecology
The two main fossil sites in which the bird has been found, Lake Poukawa and Marfells Beach adjacent to Lake Grassmere, are major wetlands, suggesting that New Zealand Musk Ducks had similar ecological needs to Australian Musk Ducks, which are almost entirely aquatic, living in large, permanent swamps, lakes and estuaries with deep water to forage in. Kerry-Jayne Wilson speculates that:"De Lautour’s duck probably preyed on crayfish, large insects, molluscs and fish – larger prey than those taken by the other ducks."
It became extinct in about the 16th century because of hunting by humans.
External links
- Reconstruction of New Zealand Musk Duck by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006.