The Morphology of the Thirioux dodos

ABSTRACT

Despite its status as an icon of extinction and relatively recent disappearance, our knowledge of the anatomy of the dodo has been hampered by a scarcity of preserved remains. The handful of dodo relics that survive from collections made prior to the bird's extinction consist solely of cranial and pedal materials, whereas other dodo skeletons preserved in museum collections are incomplete composites, constructed from subfossil skeletal remains discovered since 1865 at the Mare aux Songes locality. Here we describe the skeletal anatomy of two exceptional dodo specimens, collected around 1904 by amateur naturalist Louis Etienne Thirioux in the caves and crevasses surrounding Le Pouce, which have escaped detailed scientific analysis until now. The Port Louis specimen appears to consist of the skeletal remains of a single bird and is essentially complete, whereas the Durban specimen has been constructed from a limited number of birds but contains many bones that appear to be associated. The Port Louis specimen provides the first information regarding relative skeletal proportions of the dodo. Unique skeletal elements that were unknown or never described scientifically before include the patella, tarsal sesamoids, ulnare and radiale, and distal wing phalanges. The anatomy of the Thirioux dodos supports recent reinterpretations of the dodo as a resilient bird that was well adapted to the Mauritian ecosystem.

Citation for this article: Claessens, L. P. A. M., H. J. M. Meijer, and J. P. Hume. 2015. The morphology of the Thirioux dodos; pp. 29–187 in L. P. A. M. Claessens, H. J. M. Meijer, J. P. Hume, and K. F. Rijsdijk (eds.), Anatomy of the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus L., 1758): An Osteological Study of the Thirioux Specimens. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 15. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35(6, Supplement).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We especially would like to thank G. Beebeejaun and V. Rupear from the Mauritius Institute and all members of the Mauritius Museums Council for providing access to the Port Louis skeleton for 3-D scanning. Similarly, we express much gratitude to D. Allan and the staff of the Durban Natural Science Museum for all their assistance during the 3-D scanning in Durban. We thank P. Sweet and J. Cracraft (AMNH), C. Taylor (Hampshire Museums), G. Beebeejaun and V. Rupear (MI), D. Allan (DNSM), S. Chapman and J. Cooper (NHMUK), M. Nowak-Kemp (OUM), C. Bens, R. Allain, and C. Sagne (MNHN), M. Brooke and M. Taylor (UMZC), S. Olson (NMNH), C. Norris, K. Zyskowski, R. Prum, and J. Gauthier (YPM), J. Trimble and S. Edwards (MCZ), and J. Fjeldså (ZMUC) for providing access to specimens. A. Biedlingmaier and J. Leavitt for assistance with 3-D scanning in Port Louis and Durban, and G. Monfette, A. Randall, and A. Kimelblatt for additional help with 3-D scan processing. We would like to thank K. F. Rijsdijk and Dodo Research Programme members for their assistance during various stages of this project. We thank J. Parish for many helpful discussions and generously sharing materials. We thank R. Prŷs-Jones, E. Fuller, and M. Reindersma for many helpful discussions, L. Schmitz for advice on scleral ossicles, and J. Hutchinson for advice on avian patellar structure. We thank R. Irmis for his careful guidance as the memoir series editor and we thank T. Worthy, J. Parish, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Funding for the 3-D scanning project was provided by the National Science Foundation (Aves 3D project, DBI 0743327) and a College of the Holy Cross Research and Publication grant to L.C. Part of L.C.'s work was undertaken during a Temminck sabbatical fellowship at NBC. J.P.H. thanks Special Funds (NHM), Department Investment Fund DIF (NHMUK), and Percy Sladen Centenary Fund. H.J.M.M. received support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2011-28681) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (BP-B-00174).

Submitted January 10, 2015; revisions received November 3, 2015; accepted November 4, 2015.