Part 75

Number of species: 8.

PACHYORNIS ELEPHANTOPUS (OWEN.)

Dinornis elephantopus Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. IV, p. 149 (1853).

Palapteryx elephantopus Haast, Ibis, Ser. 3, vol. IV, p. 212 (1874).

Euryapteryx elephantopus Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 135 (1892).

Until Mr. Lydekker described Pachyornis immanis, and Mr. Andrews Aepyornis titan, this was undoubtedly the most bulky and ponderous of all known Ratitae, extinct and living.

Type: Awamoa, near Oamanu.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

Two imperfect skeletons in the Tring Museum; one from Kapua Swamps. {215}

PACHYORNIS IMMANIS LYD.

Pachyornis immanis Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Birds Brit. Mus., p. 343 (1891).

This is the most bulky and largest member of the genus, and also of all Dinornithidae. Its living parallel to-day is Casuarius philipi Rothschild, which, though by no means the tallest species of Casuarius, is the most bulky, and has the shortest and stoutest legs--the tarso-metatarsus is specially short and stout.

The type tarso-metatarsus measures 228 mm. = 8.9 inches, and in width (shaft) 84 mm. = 3.3 inches, while the type tarso-metatarsus of elephantopus measures 239 mm. = 9.4 inches and 65 mm. = 2.55 inches.

The skull is much more depressed than in elephantopus and with deeper temporal fossae and a shorter post orbital region.

Type: No. A168 British Museum.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

PACHYORNIS ROTHSCHILDI LYD.

Pachyornis rothschildi Lydekker, P.Z.S. 1891, pp. 479-482, pl. XXXVIII.

The bones in the Tring Museum, which form the type of this species, unfortunately have no history and their locality is unknown. It differs from the other species of the genus by the slenderer proportions of the tibio-tarsus, which is 22 inches long by 2.9 inches distal width, as opposed to 24 inches by 4.2 in elephantopus and 20 inches by 3.5 in ponderosus, the two nearest in size. Femur: length 10.6 as opposed to 12.5 inches in elephantopus. {216}

PACHYORNIS PONDEROSUS (HUTT.)

Euryapteryx ponderosus Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., p. 137 (1892).

This species is slightly smaller than P. elephantopus, the tarso-metatarsus varying from 8.25 to 8.0 inches, as opposed to from 9.4 to 9.25 in elephantopus; the tibio-tarsus varies from 18.5 to 18.6, as opposed to 24 to 24.1; femur, 10, as opposed to 13 to 11.8.

The skull can be distinguished by the processes at the hinder angles of the basi-sphenoid, which are higher and rounder in ponderosus, flatter and more elongated in elephantopus. Type: Hamilton.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

Cast of egg in Tring Museum, taken from specimen in Otago Museum, dredged up in 1901 in the Molyneux River, also incomplete skeleton from Kapua Swamps.

PACHYORNIS INHABILIS HUTT.

Pachyornis inhabilis Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXV, p. 11 (1893).

Differs from ponderosus by having the great inward expansion at the distal end of the tibio-tarsus. This expansion has induced some ornithologists to separate the species of Pachyornis into two genera--Euryapteryx and Pachyornis--but I do not think this expansion of sufficient importance to warrant generic separation.