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''This article is about the species of emu. For other uses, see Kangaroo Island (disambiguation).'' Kangaroo Island emu or dwarf emu〔 (''Dromaius baudinianus'') is an extinct member of the bird family Dromaiidae. It was restricted to Kangaroo Island, South Australia, which was known as Ile Decrés by the members of the Baudin expedition. It differed from the mainland emu mainly in its smaller size. The species became extinct by about 1827.〔Stattersfield et al. 1998.〕 == Taxonomy == It was discovered in 1802 by Matthew Flinders and reported to be quite common around Nepean Bay. The first bones of the species were discovered in 1903 at The Brecknells, sandhills on the west side of Cape Gantheaume. Initially there was confusion regarding the taxonomic status and geographic origin of the Kangaroo Island emu, particularly with respect to their relationship to King Island emu, which were also transported to France as part of the same expedition. The expeditions logbooks failed to clearly state where and when dwarf emu individuals were collected. This led to both taxa being interpreted as a single taxon and that it originated from Kangaroo Island. More recent finds of sub-fossil material and subsequent studies on King and Kangaroo Island emu confirm their separate geographic origin and distinct morphology. In his 1907 book ''Extinct Birds'', Walter Rothschild claimed Vieillot's description actually referred to the mainland emu, and that the name ''D. ater'' was therefore preoccupied. Believing the skin in Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle of Paris was from Kangaroo Island, he made it the type specimen of his new species ''Dromaius peroni'', named after the French naturalist François Péron, who is the main source of information about the bird in life. The Australian amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews coined further names in the early 1910s, including a new genus name, ''Peronista'', as he believed the King and Kangaroo Island birds were generically distinct from the mainland emu. Later writers claimed that the subfossil remains found on King and Kangaroo Islands were not discernibly different, and that they therefore belonged to the same taxon. In 1959, the French ornithologist Christian Jouanin proposed that none of the skins were actually from Kangaroo Island. In 1990, Jouanin and Jean-Christophe Balouet demonstrated that the mounted skin in Paris came from King Island, and that at least one live bird had been brought from each island. All scientific names given to the Kangaroo Island emu were therefore based on specimens from King Island or were otherwise invalid, leaving it nameless. More recent finds of sub-fossil material and subsequent studies on King and Kangaroo Island emu, notably by Shane A. Parker in 1984, confirmed their separate geographic origin and distinct morphology. Parker named the Kangaroo Island bird ''Dromaius baudinianus'', after the leader of the French expedition. He based it on a sub-fossil specimen from Kangaroo Island, South Australia.〔〔()〕 Specimen SAM B689Ib, a left tarsometatarsus, is the holotype.〔Parker S (1984) The extinct Kangaroo Island Emu, a hitherto-unrecognised species. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 104: 19–22.〕 The species is known from historical observer accounts and from bones, including sets deposited at the South Australian Museum. The mounted skin that can be seen at the Natural History Museum of Geneva in Switzerland and the skeleton exhibited in the Natural history Museum of Paris belong to the same individual. The Geneva specimen is thus the only skin left on earth of this taxon. It is believed that this emu lived in the interior forest.〔BirdLife International (2008)〕 The species' extinction has been attributed to hunting and habitat clearance through burning.〔Garnett 1993.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kangaroo Island emu」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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