Chatham raven

It has been suggested that this article be merged into New Zealand raven. (Discuss) Proposed since November 2023.

Chatham raven Temporal range: Early Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Two skulls, from lateral (top) and ventral (bottom)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Corvidae
Genus:	Corvus
Species:	C. moriorum
Binomial name
Corvus moriorum (Forbes, 1892)

The Chatham raven (Corvus moriorum) is a prehistoric raven formerly native to the Chatham Islands (New Zealand). The closely related New Zealand raven, C. antipodum occurred in the North and South Islands of New Zealand. C. antipodum was formerly included in C. moriorum, and later considered a distinct species, however in 2017 genetic research determined that the two raven populations were subspecies rather than separate species, having only split 130,000 years ago.^[1]

A reconstruction of the raven is in the

Remains of Chatham ravens are most common in coastal sites on the Chatham Islands. On the coast, it may have frequented the seal and penguin colonies or fed in the intertidal zone, as does the Tasmanian forest raven (C. tasmanicus). It may also have depended on fruit, like the New Caledonian crow (C. moneduloides), but it is difficult to understand why a fruit eater would have been most common in coastal forest and shrubland when fruit was distributed throughout the forest.

See also

• List of extinct animals of New Zealand
• Late Quaternary prehistoric birds

References