Lesser moa

Lesser moa
Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene
Skeleton of the eastern moa (Emeus crassus) in Musee des Confluences, Lyon
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Order: †Dinornithiformes
Family: †Emeidae
(Bonaparte, 1854)[1]
Type species
Emeus crassus
(Owen, 1846) Reichenbach 1853 non Parker 1895[1]
Species

Anomalopteryx didiformis Bush moa
Emeus crassus Eastern moa
Euryapteryx curtus Broad-billed moa
Pachyornis elephantopus Heavy-footed moa
Pachyornis geranoides Mantell's moa Pachyornis australis Crested moa

The lesser moa[a] (family Emeidae) were a family in the moa order Dinornithiformes. About two-thirds of all moa species are in the lesser moa family.[2] The moa were ratites from New Zealand. Ratites are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of the ratites is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas that they have been found in.[3]

  1. ^ a b Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand (2010). "Checklist-of-Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands and the Ross Dependency Antarctica" (PDF). Te Papa Press. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  2. ^ "moa | Size, Extinction, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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