New Zealand swan

Extinct species of swan

New Zealand swan

Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene

Conservation status

Extinct (1650 CE)

Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Aves
Order:  | Anseriformes
Family:  | Anatidae
Genus:  | Cygnus
Species:  |

†C. sumnerensis

Binomial name
†Cygnus sumnerensis

(Forbes, 1890)

Synonyms

* Chenopis sumnerensis
* Cygnus atratus sumnerensis
* Cygnus chathamensis

The New Zealand swan (Moriori: poūwa, Cygnus sumnerensis) is an extinct indigenous swan from the Chatham Islands and the South Island of New Zealand. Discovered as archaeological remains in 1889, it was originally considered a separate species from the Australian black swan (Cygnus atratus) because of its slightly larger bones, and swans not having been introduced to New Zealand until 1864. From 1998 until 2017, it was considered to be simply a New Zealand population of Cygnus atratus, until DNA recovered from fossil bones determined that it was indeed a separate species, much larger and heavier than its Australian relative.

## Description

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Based on numerous bone measurements, C. sumnerensis was distinctly larger than its Australian relative, weighing an estimated 10 kg to the 6 kg of C. atratus, a clear display of island gigantism. Standing about 1 m tall, it was "more like a rugby player compared with the Australian swan's (Cygnus atratus) smaller and slender soccer-player physique."[1] It had relatively shorter wings and longer legs, suggesting it was evolving on a path towards flightlessness, as with other New Zealand waterfowl like Finsch's duck (Chenonetta finschi) and the New Zealand goose (Cnemiornis).[2] Although likely to have the same black plumage as C. atratus, this cannot be determined from subfossil bones.

Until recently it was thought that the presence of C. atratus in New Zealand represented one of the very rare cases of a species replacing itself after extinction.[3] After the extinction of the poūwa, there is some evidence occasional vagrant swans arrived from Australia, but it was not until after its deliberate introduction in the 1860s that C. atratus became established and increased to a population of approximately 50,000 today.[4] Whether C. atratus functions as an ecological surrogate of its extinct relative is unknown.[2] Judging by the presence of their bones in middens, New Zealand swans were driven extinct by the first Polynesian settlers around AD 1450 on the mainland and AD 1650 on the Chatham Islands.[2]

## Taxonomy

[edit]

### Discovery

[edit]

The first fossil swan bones in New Zealand were recovered from Monck's Cave, Sumner, near Christchurch, in September 1889.[5] The landowner Henry Monck had discovered bones which he presented to John T. Meeson and Henry Forbes, Director of the Canterbury Museum. They were found associated with moa and fish bones, seal hair, adzes, spears, and sinkers, indicating the swans were hunted by early Māori inhabitants of the cave.[6] Forbes described the new swan species from three coracoids and two partial humeri, naming it Chenopis sumnerensis, from its resemblance to the Australian black swan Chenopis atrata (now Cygnus atratus) and from the type locality of Sumner.[7][8] Forbes noted that "This Sumner cave has been closed since the introduction of Chenopsis atrata into New Zealand [in 1864–1868]"[7] so the bones could not be from introduced black swans; he also noted that they were larger than those of the Australian species.

### Synonymy

[edit]

By the 1950s, Forbes's type material was considered lost, so Oliver in 1955 declared C. sumnerensis a nomen nudum, and redescribed the species, using fossil bones from the Chatham Islands, as Cygnus chathamensis.[9] A few years later, Forbes's specimens were rediscovered, and C. chathamensis became a junior synonym of C. sumnerensis.[10] In 1998, Worthy compared a large collection of C. sumnerensis from Marfells Beach near Lake Grassmere with Australian swan bones, but could not find any marked differences in size or proportion.[11] The species was thenceforth considered to be a population of the black swan that had colonised New Zealand in prehistoric times and been exterminated by early Māori settlers, and all New Zealand subfossil swan bones were assigned to C. atratus.[12]

### Revival of species name

[edit]

Recovery of ancient DNA from 39 fossil bones in museums allowed the relationship between New Zealand and Australian swans to be re-examined, and it turned out the mainland New Zealand and Chatham Islands populations formed a distinct group, separated from the Australian birds by perhaps 1–2 million years.[2] They proved sufficiently different from Cygnus atratus to be designated a separate and genetically distinct species, and the name C. sumnerensis was revived, with two separate subspecies (C. s. sumnerensis and C. s. chathamensis) for the mainland New Zealand and Chatham Islands birds, respectively. The researchers chose the Moriori name poūwa for the species, from a legend of a large bird that lived in Te Whanga lagoon on Chatham Island, and whose bones could still be found in the sand dunes.[4]

## See also

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* Cygnus falconeri
* Pleistocene megafauna
* Largest prehistoric animals

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Gibb, John (27 July 2017). "At last, NZ's own swan". Otago Daily Times. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
2. ^ a b c d Rawlence, Nicolas J.; Kardamaki, Afroditi; Easton, Luke J.; Tennyson, Alan J. D.; Scofield, R. Paul; Waters, Jonathan M. (2017). "Ancient DNA and morphometric analysis reveal extinction and replacement of New Zealand's unique black swans". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1859): 20170876. doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.0876. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 5543223. PMID 28747476.
3. ^ "NZ's ill-fated burly black swan". RNZ. 26 July 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
4. ^ a b Rawlence, Nic (26 July 2017). "Introducing the Poūwa: New Zealand's unique and ill-fated black swan". Sciblogs. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
5. ^ "Monck's Cave at Sumner: explorations by Mr H. O. Forbes and Mr Meeson". Christchurch Press. 8 October 1889. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
6. ^ Meeson, John (1889). "The newly-opened cave near Sumner". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 22: 64–70.
7. ^ a b Forbes, Henry O. (1890). "[Extinct swan from New Zealand]". Nature. 41 (1053): 209. doi:10.1038/041207a0.
8. ^ Forbes, Henry O. (1890). "New extinct swan from New Zealand". Ibis. 6. 32: 264–265\. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1890.tb06484.x.
9. ^ Oliver, Walter R. B. (1955). New Zealand Birds (2 ed.). Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed.
10. ^ Dawson, E. W. (1958). "Re-discoveries of the New Zealand subfossil birds named by H.O. Forbes". Ibis. 100 (2): 232–237\. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1958.tb08793.x.
11. ^ Worthy, Trevor H. (1998). "A remarkable fossil and archaeological avifauna from Marfells Beach, Lake Grassmere, South Island, New Zealand". Records of the Canterbury Museum. 12 (1): 79–176.
12. ^ Worthy, Trevor H.; Holdaway, Richard N. (2002). The Lost World of the Moa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 224–227\. ISBN 0-253-34034-9.

* v
* t
* e

Birds of New Zealand

Common
birds|

* Bellbird (korimako)
* Black-billed gull (tarāpuka)
* Brown creeper (pipipi)
* Brown teal (pāteke)
* Buff-banded rail (moho-pererū)
* Dabchick (weweia)
* Double-banded plover (pohowera)
* New Zealand falcon (kārearea)
* Fantail (pīwakawaka)
* Grey warbler (riroriro)
* Grey-faced petrel (ōi)
* Sacred kingfisher (kōtare)
* Long-tailed cuckoo (koekoeā)
* Kererū
* Pipit (pīhoihoi)
* New Zealand dotterel (tūturiwhatu)
* South Island robin
* North Island robin
* New Zealand scaup (pāpango)
* Paradise shelduck (pūtangitangi)
* Pūkeko
* Rifleman (tītipounamu)
* New Zealand rock wren (pīwauwau)
* Shining cuckoo (pīpīwharauroa)
* Silvereye (tauhou)
* South Island oystercatcher (tōrea)
* Spotted shag (pārekareka)
* Tomtit (miromiro)
* Tūī
* Variable oystercatcher (tōrea pango)
* White-fronted tern (tara)
* Whitehead (pōpokotea)
* Wrybill (ngutuparore)

Flightless
birds|

* Great spotted kiwi (roroa)
* Little spotted kiwi (kiwi pukupuku)
* North Island brown kiwi (roroa)
* Okarito kiwi (rowi)
* Southern brown kiwi (tokoeka)
* Yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho)
* Kākāpō
* South Island takahē
* Fiordland penguin (tawaki)
* Weka
* Blue penguin (kororā)

Endangered
endemic birds
(flying)|

* Black-fronted tern (tarapiroe)
* Black stilt (kakī)
* Blue duck (whio)
* Fernbird (mātātā)
* Foveaux shag
* Kākā
* Kea
* North Island kōkako
* South Island kōkako
* New Zealand fairy tern (tara-iti)
* New Zealand king shag (kawau tūī)
* New Zealand storm petrel (takahikare)
* Northern royal albatross
* Otago shag (Matapo)
* Orange-fronted parakeet (kākāriki karaka)
* Red-billed gull (tarāpunga)
* North Island saddleback (tīeke)
* South Island saddleback (tīeke)
* Shore plover (tūturuatu)
* Stitchbird (hihi)
* Yellowhead (mōhua)

Chatham Islands
birds|

* Black robin (karure)
* Chatham albatross (toroa)
* Chatham gerygone
* Chatham oystercatcher (tōrea)
* Chatham parakeet
* Chatham petrel (ranguru)
* Chatham pigeon (parea)
* Chatham shag (papua)
* Chatham snipe
* Magenta petrel (tāiko)
* Pitt shag (kawau o rangihaute)

Subantarctic islands
birds|

* Antipodean albatross (Toroa)
* Auckland rail
* Auckland shag
* Auckland teal (tētē kākāriki)
* Antipodes parakeet
* Bounty shag
* Campbell albatross
* Campbell shag
* Campbell teal
* Erect-crested penguin (tawaki nana hī)
* Reischek's parakeet
* Snares snipe
* Snares penguin (pokotiwha)
* Subantarctic snipe (tutukiwi)

Extinct
birds|

* South Island piopio (piopio)
* New Zealand bittern (kaoriki)
* New Zealand quail (koreke)
* Huia
* Haast's eagle
* Moa
* North Island adzebill
* South Island adzebill
* Auckland Island merganser (rakiraki maungahuka)
* Chatham Island merganser
* Bushwren (mātuhituhi)
* Long-billed wren
* South Island stout-legged wren
* North Island stout-legged wren
* Lyall's wren
* Chatham kākā
* Laughing owl (whēkau)
* Chatham penguin
* Waitaha penguin
* Eyles' harrier (kērangi)
* North Island little spotted kiwi
* North Island snipe
* South Island snipe
* Forbes's snipe
* Snipe-rail
* Imber's petrel
* Scarlett's shearwater (ōiruki)
* North Island takahē (moho)
* New Zealand goose
* Finsch's duck (manutahora)
* New Zealand owlet-nightjar (ruru hinapō)
* New Zealand musk duck
* New Zealand swan (poūwa)

Taxon identifiers

Cygnus atratus sumnerensis|

* Wikidata: Q669366
* Wikispecies: Cygnus atratus sumnerensis
* Avibase: 0EFEC802EEED9BDD
* NCBI: 2023654
* NZBO: new-zealand-swan-matapu
* Open Tree of Life: 3595917

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