Gallirallus temptatus, Kirchman, Jeremy J. & Steadman, David W., 2006

Kirchman, Jeremy J. & Steadman, David W., 2006, Rails (Rallidae: Gallirallus) from prehistoric archaeological sites in Western Oceania, Zootaxa 1316, pp. 1-31 : 8-10

† Gallirallus temptatus new species

Holotype. Complete coracoid UF 63302 ( Figure 2 B) from the Route 100 archaeological site, Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Paratypes. From the Route 100 site: Rostrum missing both lateral rami UF 63296. Frontal­interorbital portion of cranium UF 63293. Complete vertebrae UF 63301, 63305. Coracoid missing sternal end UF 63292. Scapula missing posterior half UF 63300. Proximal ulna UF 63304. Proximal carpometacarpus UF 63299 ( Figure 2 B). Distal tibiotarsus UF 63319. Tarsometatarsus lacking distal trochleae UF 63303. From the Mochong site: Distal femur UF 62964. Proximal tibiotarsus UF 62965. Complete tarsometatarsus UF 62962. Distal tarsometatarsus UF 62963.

Diagnosis. A medium­sized rail, slightly smaller overall than Gallirallus philippensis ( Table 3), with the following unique combination of characters (summarized in Table 4 ). Coracoid: facies articularis sternalis narrow, shallow; foramen nutrium supracoracoidei large; lateral margin of facies articularis humeralis short and rounded in humeral aspect. Scapula: in proximal aspect, area between facies articularis humeralis and facies articularis clavicularis shallow. Ulna: intermediate (compared to G. owstoni and G. philippensis ) in size relative to leg elements, with deep, well­emarginated depressio musculo brachialis. Carpometacarpus: length from processus pisiformis to proximal end of spatium intermetacarpalis short.

Etymology. From the Latin tento (tempto), which means “try, prove, put to the test” ( Brown 1956:819). The name temptatus , a masculine adjective, refers to how trying it has been for rails of the genus Gallirallus to survive on Rota. † Gallirallus temptatus became extinct in prehistoric times, whereas biologists have attempted to establish a wild population of G. owstoni on Rota since 1990, with little success in spite of valiant effort.

Remarks. Many of the characters used to diagnose † Gallirallus temptatus are associated with reduction of the flight apparatus relative to overall body size. The leg bones of † G. temptatus are not distinguishable from those of G. philippensis .

Figures

FIGURE 2. The coracoids (upper row) and carpometacarpi (lower row) of Gallirallus rails from the Mariana Islands. A. † G. pisonii new species, UF 62934, UF 62917, Aguiguan. B. † G. temptatus new species, UF 63302, UF 63299, Rota. C. † G. pendiculentus new species, UF 60110, UF 63372, Tinian. D. G. owstoni male, UF 39921, Guam. E. G. philippensis male, UF 39855, Tutuila, American Samoa. Scale = 30 mm.