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MEGALAPTERYX HUTTONII(OWEN).
(Plate 41.)
- Dinornis huttonii Owen, Ext. Birds, N.Z., p. 430 (1879).
- Dinornis didinus Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. XI, p. 257 (1883).
- D. didiformis Haast, (non Owen 1844) Trans. N.Z. Inst. I, p. 83, Nos. 5 & 6 (1869).
- Mesopteryx didinus Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 129 (1892).
The synonymy of this form is somewhat confused, but I think it is clear that huttonii of Owen is its proper name. Professor Owen (Ext. B. p. 430) says:
"In the collection from the Glenmark Swamp, South Island, are bones that scarcely differ, save in size, from the dimensions (? W.R.) of the type bones of Dinornis didiformis from the North Island. They are noted as of a large variety of that species." Captain Hutton remarks: "The bones that I have arranged under the name D. didiformis belong probably to a new species. The tibia is well marked and quite distinct, but the femur and metatarsus, that I have associated with it, pass almost into D. casuarinus, but are rather smaller. D. casuarinus is undoubtedly a good species, easily distinguished by its tibia." Possibly the Dinornis of the South Island, with the tibia characteristic of D. didiformis of the North Island, may need to be noted for the convenience of naming the bones as Dinornis huttonii.
When describing his D. didinus, Professor Owen failed to recognise its identity with his previously named D. huttonii, doubtless owing to the leg bones being hidden by the dry integument. This being the case, it is necessary to reinstate the name huttonii, as it has four years' priority over didinus.
Captain Hutton says that a few bones of this form have been obtained in the North Island at Poverty Bay and Te Aute; but I am convinced he is in error and that these bones are aberrant individual bones of A. didiformis and that M. huttonii is confined to the South or rather Middle Island. The plate of this species has been reconstructed by Mr. Lodge from the mummified remains which form the type specimen of Didornis didinus, and the feathers found in the alluvial sands of the Clutha River. The type of Dinornis didinus was found at Queenstown by Mr. Squires.
Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.
Mr. C. W. Andrews, in his description of my complete skeleton of Megalapteryx tenuipes has shown that Owen's type specimens of his Dinornis didinus are certainly of a species of the genus Megalapteryx, and closely
