Nuku Hiva rail

The Nuku Hiva rail (Gallirallus epulare) is an extinct species of flightless bird in the Rallidae, or rail family.

Nuku Hiva rail Temporal range: Late Holocene
Conservation status
Extinct [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Rallidae
Genus:	Gallirallus
Species:	†G. epulare
Binomial name
†Gallirallus epulare Kirchman & Steadman, 2007[1]

History

The rail was described in 2007 from subfossil bones collected in 1994-1995 by archaeologists B. V. Rolett, E. Conte and their colleagues at the Ha'atuatua archaeological site, on the island of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. The site dates to about 1000 yr BP, from the early period of human settlement of the island.^[1]

Etymology

The specific epithet comes from the Latin epularis (pertaining to a banquet) which refers to the discovery of the specimens in a kitchen midden containing the remains of meals eaten by prehistoric Polynesians.^[1]