Eyles' harrier
| Eyles's harrier | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Circus |
| Species: | C. eylesi |
| Binomial name | |
|
Circus eylesi Scarlett, 1953 |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
"Circus hamiltoni" (nomen nudum) |
|
"Circus hamiltoni" (nomen nudum)
"Circus teauteensis" (nomen nudum, but see text)
Eyles's harrier is an extinct bird of prey which lived in New Zealand. This species was named for Jim Eyles, paeleontologist and former director of the Nelson Provincial Museum and the West Coast Museum. It was presumably very similar to the living swamp harrier.
It was an example of island gigantism, as an adult female weighed around 2.5 to 3 kg (5.5 to 6.6 lb), over twice as much as a swamp harrier. It was a generalist predator, taking prey of the same size as small eagle species do – land animals weighing one or a few kilograms. In its hunting strategy, however, it was more adapted to avian prey, as mammals were entirely absent from New Zealand. Its shape differed from that of most other harriers, and it was initially mistaken for a huge hawk, possibly a giant Accipiter. Presumably, it hunted diurnal birds in a manner similar to goshawks.
The nomenclature and taxonomy of this bird are quite convoluted. As Circus eylesi it was only described in the mid-20th century, from remains found in Pyramid Valley on the South Island of New Zealand. However, essentially identical bones had been found about 100 years earlier by Augustus Hamilton and discussed subsequently by Henry Ogg Forbes; this material probably comes from the Te Aute region on the North Island. Forbes gave it the names Circus hamiltoni and Circus teauteensis, but since it seems no holotype was ever formally named nor can be deduced from the minimal description, these names are generally considered nomina nuda. Sometimes C. teauteensis is considered valid, based on the argument that as with many New Zealand birds, it is reasonable to assume that North and South Island populations were at least distinct subspecies, if not species. But even though Kálmán Lambrecht mentioned a putative holotype tibiotarsus (which still exists in the BMNH) he explicitly stated that Forbes' names were both invalid. In addition, harrier bones of comparatively recent age in the collection of Walter Mantell, assigned to C. gouldi (an obsolete name of C. approximans) by Richard Lydekker, seem to be of a more robust bird judging from the published descriptions; this material may now be lost, but all things considered it is not unlikely to be the first remains of Eyles' harrier known to science.
...
Wikipedia