Megavitiornis altirostris

Megavitiornis altirostris is an extinct, flightless, giant stem-galliform bird that was endemic to Fiji, it is the only known species in the genus Megavitiornis. Originally thought to be a megapode, more recent morphological studies indicate a close relationship with Sylviornis of New Caledonia, with both genera belonging to the family Sylviornithidae outside of the Galliformes crown group. It is likely that it became extinct through overhunting shortly after the colonisation of the Fiji Islands by humans.

No picture of Megavitiornis altirostris was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Megavitiornis altirostris, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MegavitiornisPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Galloanserae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Galloanserae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At most 129 thousand years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 129 ka and 0 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Pleistocene — about 2 of 6 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 4 of 6 occurrences147 ka–126 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences126 ka–105 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences105 ka–84 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences84 ka–63 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences63 ka–42 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences42 ka–21 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21 ka–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences629 ka0 Mya

6 occurrences of Megavitiornis altirostris on record, most of them in the Holocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

6 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Megavitiornis altirostris and its relatives

Holocene

Where Megavitiornis altirostris and its relatives were recorded in the Holocene.

Found in the same rock

14 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Megavitiornis altirostris, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 6 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Megavitiornis altirostris was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Megavitiornis altirostris, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Megavitiornis altirostris was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMegavitiornis through timeFormations of the HoloceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Worthy 2000