Stout-legged wren
Stout-legged wren is a common name referring to two species of extinct New Zealand wrens: the North Island stout-legged wren or Grant-Mackie's wren, and the South Island stout-legged wren or Yaldwyn's wren. These small birds were endemic to New Zealand and were previously included in the genus Pachyplichas.
History and etymology
The holotype for the North Island wren is a right tarsometatarsus collected on 25 August 1978 from the Ruakuri Cave in the Waitomo District of North Island of New Zealand. The specific epithet honours Dr John Grant-Mackie, Associate Professor of Geology at Auckland University, in recognition of his support for graduate students and for contributions to avian palaeontology.The holotype for the South Island wren is a right tarsometatarsus collected on 29 September 1983 from the Honeycomb Hill Cave. The specific epithet honours Dr John Yaldwyn, Director of the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington, in recognition of his contributions to avian palaeontology.
Description
North: This wren is similar to, though smaller than, its congener from South Island, the South Island stout-legged wren, with which it forms a species pair. Its reduced wings and robust legs indicate that it was strongly adapted to a terrestrial existence and was either flightless or nearly so.South: It was the largest of the New Zealand wrens. The morphology of the wren indicates that it was strongly adapted to a terrestrial existence. Radiocarbon dates for the assemblages with which it is associated range from 25,000 BP to 1,000 BP. Either flightless or nearly so, it became extinct following the occupation of New Zealand by the Polynesian ancestors of the Māori, and the associated introduction of the kiore.