Moa-nalo
| Moa-nalo Temporal range: Late to Holocene |
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| Artist's conception of chauliodous, and Ptaiochen pau | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Family: | Anatidae |
| Subfamily: | Anatinae |
| Tribe: | Thambetochenini |
| Genera | |
The moa-nalo are a group of extinct aberrant, goose-like ducks that lived on the larger Hawaiian Islands, except Hawaiʻi itself, in the Pacific. They were the major herbivores on most of these islands for the last 3 million years or so, until they became extinct after human settlement.
The moa-nalo (the name literally means "lost fowl"; an "s" is not added for the plural) were unknown to science, having been wiped out before the arrival of Captain James Cook (1778), until the early 1980s, when their subfossil remains were discovered in sand dunes on the islands of Molokaʻi and Kauaʻi. Subsequently, bones were found on Maui, Oʻahu, and Lānaʻi, in lava tubes, lake beds, and sinkholes. They represent four species in three genera so far:
Chelychelynechen, meaning turtle-jawed goose, had a large, heavy bill like that of a tortoise, while the other two genera, Thambetochen and Ptaiochen, all had serrations in their bills known as pseudoteeth, similar to those of mergansers. All species were flightless and large, with an average mass of 4–7.5 kg (8.8–16.5 lb).
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