Ascension night heron
Ascension night heron | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Pelecaniformes |
Family: | Ardeidae |
Genus: | Nycticorax |
Species: | †N. olsoni
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Binomial name | |
†Nycticorax olsoni Bourne, Ashmole & Simmons, 2003
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The Ascension night heron (Nycticorax olsoni) is an extinct
The Ascension night heron disappeared in the 16th century. Its scientific name commemorates Storrs L. Olson.
A possible report on the Ascension night heron is found in the chapter "D'une isle nommte I'Ascention" in the travel report Les singularitez de la France antarctique by
Furthermore in this island there is a certain kind of great birds that I have heard called Aponars; they have little wings, and therefore they cannot fly. They are great and high like herons, the belly white and the back black as coal, the bill like to a cormorant; when they are killed they cry like hogs.[3]
It is known that Thévet is not entirely reliable and sometimes invented animals or other details. The name "aponard" is attested by
Cartier's reports aroused considerable interest among the educated French around 1550, and it is quite likely that Thévet himself had read them and that they were his source for the name. Whether Thévet invented his "aponar" in yet another attempt to make his book more interesting - as he was wont to - or whether his testimony is in fact a description of the Nycticorax is hard to decide. Cartier's description is vague and Thévet had almost certainly not seen an actual great auk by 1558; his description may equally well apply to either that bird or a Nycticorax, though some details - the comparison with herons or the voice - seem to fit the Ascension night heron better than the great auk.
References
- ^ Bourne, W. R. P., Ashmole, N. P. & Simmons K. E. L.: A new subfossil night heron and a new genus for the extinct rail from Ascension Island, central tropical Atlantic Ocean. Ardea 91, issue 1, 2003: p. 45-51
- ^ Jeremy Gaskell: Who killed the Great Auk. Oxford University Press. p. 8 Online
- ^ Thévet, André: D'une isle nommte I'Ascention In: Les singularitez de la France antarctique (published 1558)
External links