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less than half that of the tibio-tarsus. In the vertebral column the cervicals are short with very stout centra, the prezygopophyses in the middle region being nearly horizontal and separated from one another by a wide channel. The posterior face of the centra is tall and narrow, and the neural spines of the last two vertebrae much inclined forward. In the dorsals there is usually no anterior pneumatic foramen till the fourth (or the last with a distinct haemal carina), this foramen being situated on the line of the anterior border of the rib-facet. The third and fourth dorsals are extremely compressed. Throughout the series also the neural spines and transverse processes are comparatively long. Additional characters of the skull are that the sphenoidal rostrum is expanded in a lance-like shape at the anterior extremity, in a manner unlike that of any of the other genera.
Then the supraoccipital never has a very strongly developed median prominence, and the temporal fossae are comparatively short. The mandible may be readily distinguished from that of the other genera by the low position of the inner aperture of the dental canal, which pierces the bone obliquely to join the small lateral vacuity.
Type of the genus: Pachyornis elephantopus (Owen).
Number of species: 8.
PACHYORNIS ELEPHANTOPUS(OWEN.)
- Dinornis elephantopus Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. IV, p. 149 (1853).
- Palapteryx elephantopus Haast, Ibis, Ser. 3, vol. IV, p. 212 (1874).
- Euryapteryx elephantopus Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 135 (1892).
Until Mr. Lydekker described Pachyornis immanis, and Mr. Andrews Aepyornis titan, this was undoubtedly the most bulky and ponderous of all known Ratitae, extinct and living.
Type: Awamoa, near Oamanu.
Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.
Two imperfect skeletons in the Tring Museum; one from Kapua Swamps.
