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Information About

Bermuda Night Heron




  Name Bermuda Night Heron
  Status EX
  Extinct 17th Century
  Regnum Animal ia
  Phylum Chordata
  Classis Aves
  Ordo Ciconiiformes
  Familia Ardeidae
  Genus '' Nyctanassa ''
  Species '''''Nyctanassa carcinocatactes'''''
  Binomial ''Nyctanassa carcinocatactes''
  Binomial Authority ( Olson & Wingate 2006 )


The Bermuda Night Heron (''Nyctanassa carcinocatactes'') is an extinct heron species from Bermuda . It is sometimes assigned to the genus Nycticorax. It was first described in 2006 by Storrs L. Olson and David B. Wingate from subfossil material found in the Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in caves and ponds of Bermuda. Its Anatomy was rather similar to its next living relative, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron (''Nyctanassa violacea'') but it had a heavier bill, a more massive skull and more robust hindlimbs. The specialization of the bill and the hindlimbs showed that it was apparently adapted to the feeding on land crabs. There are also early historian reports referring to that species. It became possibly extinct due to the settlement of the Bermuda islands in the 17th century.


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