Marquesas swamphen
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SPECIES
Porphyrio paepae

Marquesas swamphen (Porphyrio paepae ) is a presumably extinct species of swamphen from the Marquesas Islands Hiva Oa and Tahuata. It was originally described from 600-year-old subfossil remains from Tahuata and Hiva Oa. It may have survived to around 1900; in the lower right corner of Paul Gauguin's 1902 painting Le Sorcier d'Hiva Oa ou le Marquisien à la cape rouge there is a bird which resembles native descriptions of Porphyrio paepae. Thor Heyerdahl claimed to have seen a similar flightless bird on Hiva Oa in 1937.

References

1. Marquesas swamphen Wikipedia article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquesas_swamphen
2. Marquesas swamphen on The IUCN Red List site - https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/62263064/119207668

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