Fleming’s rail was described from two bones recovered from 1 million-year-old (mid-Pleistocene) shoreline deposits near Marton. They were assigned to a new genus and species, with the genus name reflecting the Pleistocene age of this rail. The species name honours Sir Charles Fleming (1916-1987) for his contributions to New Zealand palaeontology and ornithology.

Fleming’s rail was a large, stout terrestrial rail, similar in size to a takahe. It was apparently unrelated to any of the extant or recently extinct New Zealand rails.

The holotype (NMNZ S.34498, a right tibiotarsus) and paratype (NMNZ S.34497, a distal left femur) are held at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

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Te Papa collections

References

Worthy, T.H. 1997. A mid-Pleistocene rail from New Zealand. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 21: 71-78.

Recommended citation

Miskelly, C.M. 2013. Fleming’s rail. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz