Scientists identify giant extinct bird from Indonesian cave bone

Paleontologists from the University Museum of Bergen identified a new extinct species of megapode bird from a single leg bone fragment found in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores.

The research team named the bird Megapodius rokusi. This species lived in the Liang Bua cave, a site where researchers previously discovered the small-bodied human relative Homo floresiensis. The ancient bird was much larger than the only megapode species currently living on Flores, the orange-footed megapode.

While the modern bird weighs between 0.5 and 1.2 kg, the extinct Megapodius rokusi weighed approximately 3.9 kg. Megapodes are ground-dwelling birds that incubate their eggs by burying them in mounds to use environmental heat instead of body heat. This discovery is the first time a megapode fossil has been described from Wallacea, the island region between mainland Asia and Australia. The researchers found the bone in sediments dated to between 190,000 and 120,000 years ago.

Because they did not find shoulder or wing bones, the scientists cannot determine if the bird was able to fly. They also do not know when the species went extinct or if it lived alongside the smaller modern species. The team suggests that the modern bird might have reached the island only after the larger species disappeared. The authors noted that megapode eggs have a yolk making up 50 to 60 percent of the weight.

These nutritious eggs may have served as a food source for Homo floresiensis and modern humans over the last 50,000 years. The researchers named the species after Rokus Due Awe, an Indonesian zooarchaeologist who helped identify the remains of Homo floresiensis.