Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Extreme reversed sexual size dimorphism in the extinct New Zealand moa Dinornis

Nature volume 425, pages 172–175 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The ratite moa (Aves; Dinornithiformes) were massive graviportal browsers weighing up to 250 kg (ref. 1) that dominated the New Zealand biota until their extinction approximately 500 yr ago. Despite an extensive Quaternary fossil record, moa taxonomy remains problematic1,2,3,4 and currently 11 species are recognized. Three Dinornis species were found throughout New Zealand and differed markedly in size (1–2 m height at back) and mass (from ∼34 to 242 kg)1. Surprisingly, ancient mitochondrial DNA sequences show that the three species were genetically indistinguishable within each island, but formed separate North and South Island clades. Here we show, using the first sex-linked nuclear sequences from an extinct species, that on each island the three morphological forms actually represent just one species, whose size varied markedly according to sex and habitat. The largest females in this example of extreme reversed sexual size dimorphism were about 280% the weight and 150% the height of the largest males, which is unprecedented among birds and terrestrial mammals. The combination of molecular and palaeontological data highlights the difficulties of analysing extinct groups, even those with detailed fossil records.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Size and distribution of the three currently accepted Dinornis species.
Figure 2: The maximum a posteriori tree of Dinornis mitochondrial DNA sequences generated from the posterior distribution using Metropolis–Hastings MCMC and control region sequences (525 bp) of 32 specimens, with protein-coding sequences (1,435 bp) from 7 specimens (see Methods).
Figure 3: Molecular sex determination of Dinornis.
Figure 4: Occurrence of Dinornis skeletal remains from swamp and cave deposits across New Zealand.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Worthy, T. H. & Holdaway, R. N. The Lost World of the Moa (Indiana Univ. Press, Bloomington, 2002)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Archey, G. The moa: A study of the Dinornithiformes. Bull. Auck. Inst. Mus. 1, 1–144 (1941)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Oliver, W. R. B. The moas of New Zealand and Australia. Dominion Mus. Bull. Well. NZ, 15, 1–204 (1949)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cracraft, J. Covariation patterns in the post-cranial skeleton of the moas (Aves, Dinornithidae): A factor analytic study. Paleobiology 2, 166–173 (1976)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Owen, R. On the bone of an unknown struthious bird from New Zealand, meeting of November 12, 1839. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 7, 169–171 (1840)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hutton, F. W. The moas of New Zealand. Trans. Proc. NZ Inst. 24, 93–172 (1892)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Worthy, T. H. Reappraisal of Dinornis (Aves, Dinornithiformes) species—a morphometric analysis. NZ J. Zool. 21, 113–134 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Cooper, A. et al. Complete mitochondrial genome sequences of two extinct moas clarify ratite evolution. Nature 409, 704–707 (2001)

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Cooper, A. & Poinar, H. N. Ancient DNA: Do it right or not at all. Science 289, 1139 (2000)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Shetty, S., Griffin, D. K. & Graves, J. A. M. Comparative painting reveals strong chromosome homology over 80 million years of bird evolution. Chromosome Res. 7, 289–295 (1999)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Huynen, L., Millar, C. D. & Lambert, D. M. A DNA test to sex ratite birds. Mol. Ecol. 11, 851–856 (2002)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Greenwood, A. D., Capelli, C., Possnert, G. & Paabo, S. Nuclear DNA sequences from late Pleistocene megafauna. Mol. Biol. Evol. 16, 1466–1473 (1999)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Davies, S. J. J. F. Ratites and Tinamous (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2002)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Bertram, B. C. R. Breeding Systems and Strategies of Ostriches 890–894 (Proc. XVII Int. Ornith. Congr., Berlin, 1979)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Marchant, M. & Higgins, P. J. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne, 1990)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Worthy, T. H. Sexual dimorphism and temporal variation in the North Island moa species Euryapteryx curtus (Owen) and Pachyornis mappini (Archy). Natl Mus. NZ Rec. 3, 59–70 (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Andersson, M. Sexual Selection (Princeton Univ. Press, 1994)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Atkinson, I. A. E. & Greenwood, R. M. Relationships between moas and plants. NZ J. Ecol. 12, 67–96 (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Shine, R. Ecological causes for the evolution of sexual dimorphism—a review of the evidence. Q. Rev. Biol. 64, 419–461 (1989)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Lewis, K. B., Carter, L. & Davey, F. J. The opening of Cook Strait—interglacial tidal scour and aligning basins at a subduction to transform plate edge. Mar. Geol. 116, 293–312 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Barnes, I., Matheus, P., Shapiro, B., Jensen, D. & Cooper, A. Dynamics of Pleistocene population extinctions in Beringian brown bears. Science 295, 2267–2270 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Hjelmqvist, L. et al. Alcohol-dehydrogenase of class-I—kiwi liver-enzyme, parallel evolution in separate vertebrate lines, and correlation with 12s ribosomal-RNA patterns. FEBS Lett. 367, 306–310 (1995)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Drummond, A. J., Nicholls, G. K., Rodrigo, A. G. & Solomon, W. Estimating mutation parameters, population history and genealogy simultaneously from temporally spaced sequence data. Genetics 161, 1307–1320 (2002)

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Owen, R. Memoirs on the Extinct Wingless Birds of New Zealand (London, 1879)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (A. J. D. Tennyson, J. A. Bartle), Canterbury Museum (P. Scofield), Auckland Museum (B. Gill), Otago Museum (S. Michelsen-Heath), B. Reeve, Bell Hill Vineyard (M. Giesen, S. Veldhuizen), Pampas Poultry (H. Macfie), B. Shapiro, T. Gilbert, R. Holdaway, J. Binladen and T. Brand for samples and assistance with analysis. The Oxford University Museum of Natural History provided laboratory space. We thank NERC (A.C. and M.B.), Wellcome and Leverhulme Trusts (A.C.), BBSRC (T.F., W.H., A.D., A.C.), EPSRC (A.D.), Villum Kann Rasmussen Fonden, Denmark (E.W.) and the New Zealand FoRST (T.H.W.) for financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, OX1 3PS, Oxford, UK

    Michael Bunce, Tom Ford, Will Hoppitt, Alexei Drummond & Alan Cooper

  2. Palaeofaunal Surveys, 2A Willow Park Drive, RD11, Masterton, New Zealand

    Trevor H. Worthy

  3. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Eske Willerslev

  4. Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, OX1 3TG, Oxford, UK

    Alexei Drummond

Authors
  1. Michael Bunce
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Trevor H. Worthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tom Ford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Will Hoppitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Eske Willerslev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Alexei Drummond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Alan Cooper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alan Cooper.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bunce, M., Worthy, T., Ford, T. et al. Extreme reversed sexual size dimorphism in the extinct New Zealand moa Dinornis. Nature 425, 172–175 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01871

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01871

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing