Marquesas swamphen

Short description: Extinct species of bird

Marquesas swamphen

Paul Gauguin's 1902 probable depiction of the Marquesan swamphen (Porphyrio paepae) being killed by a dog.

Conservation status

Extinct (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Aves
Order:  | Gruiformes
Family:  | Rallidae
Genus:  | Porphyrio
Species:  |

P. paepae

Binomial name
Porphyrio paepae

Steadman, 1988

The Marquesas swamphen (Porphyrio paepae) is an 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.[2] 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[3] 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.[4]

## References

1. ↑ BirdLife International (2017). "Porphyrio paepae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T62263064A119207668.en. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/62263064/119207668. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. ↑ Steadman, D.W. (1988). "A new species of Porphyrio (Aves, Rallidae) from archaeological sites in the Marquesas Islands". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 101 (1): 162–170. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34645843.
3. ↑ «[…] d'Hiva Oa […]» as such, is pronounced /diˈva oˈa/, while the Polynesian h is always a /ɦ/: this shows Gauguin had a very poor knowledge of the Polynesian languages. He should have written de Hiva Oa. Despite Polynesian inscriptions, often approximative, Gauguin seems to have been unable to speak any Polynesian languages, as it is said locally.
4. ↑ Hume, J. P.; Walters, M. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: A & C Black. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-1-4081-5725-1.

## Sources

* Steadman, David W. (2006). Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 101, 105–6, 127, 243–4, 312–5, 523. ISBN 0-226-77142-3.

Wikidata ☰ Q979902 entry

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