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Trevor H. Worthy, Suzanne J. Hand, Michael Archer, R. Paul Scofield & Vanesa L. De Pietri
Evidence for a giant parrot from the Early Miocene of New Zealand
Biology Letters, published todayAbstract:
Insular avifaunas have repeatedly spawned evolutionary novelties in the form of unusually large, often flightless species. We report fossils from the Early Miocene St Bathans Fauna of New Zealand that attests to the former existence of a giant psittaciform, which is described as a new genus and species. The fossils are two incomplete tibiotarsi from a bird with an estimated mass of 7 kg, double that of the heaviest known parrot, the kakapo Strigops habroptila. These psittaciform fossils show that parrots join the growing group of avian taxa prone to giantism in insular species, currently restricted to palaeognaths, anatids, sylviornithids, columbids, aptornithids, ciconiids, tytonids, falconids and accipitrids.
Apparently a meter tall. No way to tell if it was able to fly.
At least one news report has claimed this was a predator, "possibly" feeding on smaller parrots. Naturally, as there are just "two incomplete tibiotarsi" known, there's not a word of this in the paper. Perhaps the myth originated as a misunderstanding of this part:
Etymology: The nestorid Nelepsittacus from the St Bathans Fauna was named after Neleus. This much larger psittaciform is named after the Greek Heracles, who in Latin was known as Hercules, and who killed Neleus and his sons, except for Nestor. Genus gender masculine. The specific epithet denotes the unexpected nature of this find.
Indeed, Nestor, literally "the one who comes home safe", survives to this day in New Zealand â Nestor notabilis is the kea.
I should mention that it's Strigops habroptilus: ops is feminine in the original Greek, but ICZN Art. 30.1.4.3 states that "A compound genus-group name ending in -ops is to be treated as masculine, regardless of its derivation or of its treatment by its author." That's why we get to keep Triceratops horridus and T. prorsus, too.
(Note that the Code is no longer hosted by nhm.ac.uk, but has moved to iczn.org.)