Genus Porphyrio Higher classification Swamphen | Phylum Chordata Family Rallidae Scientific name Porphyrio paepae Rank Species | |
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Similar Bird, Swamphen, Rallidae, Réunion rail, Gruiformes | ||
Marquesas swamphen (Porphyrio paepae) is a presumably extinct species of swamphen from the Marquesas Islands Hiva Oa and Tahuata. It was originally described from 600-year-old subfossil remains from Tahuata and Hiva Oa. It may have survived to around 1900; in the lower right corner of Paul Gauguin's 1902 painting Le Sorcier d'Hiva Oa ou le Marquisien à la cape rouge there is a bird which resembles native descriptions of Porphyrio paepae. Thor Heyerdahl claimed to have seen a similar flightless bird on Hiva Oa in 1937.
References
Marquesas swamphen Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA