Dinornis
Sign in to saveDinornis (from Ancient Greek δεινός (deinós), meaning "terrible", and ὄρνις (órnis), meaning "bird"), also known as the giant moa, is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. As with other moa, it is a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of Dinornis are considered valid, the North Island giant moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae) and the South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus). In addition, two further species (new lineage A and lineage B) have been suggested based on distinct DNA lineages.
Article
10 sectionsContents
- Description
- Taxonomy
- Palaeobiology
- Sexual dimorphism
- Reproduction
- Habitat
- Extinction
- Further reading
- References
- External links
Dinornis (from Ancient Greek δεινός (deinós), meaning "terrible", and ὄρνις (órnis), meaning "bird"), also known as the giant moa, is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. As with other moa, it is a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of Dinornis are considered valid, the North Island giant moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae) and the South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus). In addition, two further species (new lineage A and lineage B) have been suggested based on distinct DNA lineages.
==Description== upright|thumb|left|D. robustus skeleton Dinornis may have been the tallest bird that ever lived, with the females standing around tall, and weighing an estimated or in various estimates. However, the males of the genus were much smaller, only around .