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Information about Tasmanian Emu

Tasmanian Emu
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Struthioniformes
Family:Casuariidae
Genus:Dromaius
Species:D. novaehollandiae
Subspecies:D. n. diemenensis
Trinomial name
Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis
Le Souef, 1907
Synonyms


Dromaeius diemenensis (lapsus) Le Souef, 1907


The Tasmanian Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis) is an extinct subspecies of the Emu. It was found on Tasmania where it had become isolated during the Late Pleistocene. As opposed to the other insular emu taxa, the King Island and the Kangaroo Island Emu, the population on Tasmania was sizeable, meaning that there were no marked effects of small population size as in the other two isolates. Thus, the Tasmanian Emu had not progressed to the point where it could be considered a distinct species, and even its status as a distinct subspecies is not universally accepted as it agreed with the mainland birds in measurements and the external characters used to distinguish it - a whitish instead of black foreneck and throat and an unfeathered neck - apparently are also present, albeit rare, in some mainland birds. Today, it is apparently only known from subfossil bones, the skins which once existed having been lost.

Extinction

The Tasmanian emu was, as the mainland birds, hunted as a pest. In addition, the practice of setting fire to grassland and shrubland to aid in claiming land for agriculture deprived the birds of habitat. It is known that in 1838, 2 skin specimens were received by the British Museum. The subspecies became extinct around 1850, but this date is not very precise: Mainland birds were introduced after diemenensis' disappearance (and possibly even when the last birds of the Tasamanian subspecies were still around, hybridizing them out of existence), but the history of emu introductions on Tasmania is not sufficiently documented to allow a more precise dating of the disappearance of diemenensis. Whether a sight record in 1865 and captive specimens that died in 1873 were of this subspecies is not known with certainty. The specimens on the British Museum belonged to a collection which was suffering from bad preparation and/or storage in 1906 already, and they could not be located in 1959. A supposed third specimen in Frankfurt is erroneously attributed to this subspecies (Steinbacher, 1959).

References

  • Le Souef, William Henry Dudley (1907): [Description of Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis]. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Club 21: 13.
  • Steinbacher, Joachim (1959): Weitere Angaben über ausgestorbene, aussterbende und seltene Vögel im Senckenberg-Museum. Senckenbergiana Biologica 40(1/2): 1-14. [Article in German]
conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
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For the periodical, see .
The 19th Century (also written XIX century) lasted from 1801 through 1900 in the Gregorian calendar. It is often referred to as the "1800s.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Struthioniformes
Latham, 1790

Families

Struthionidae (ostriches)
Rheidae (rheas)
Casuariidae (emus etc.)
†Aepyornithidae (elephant birds)
†Dinornithidae (moa)
Apterygidae (kiwis)

A ratite
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Casuariidae
Kaup, 1847

Genera

Casuarius
Dromaius
For fossil forms, see article

The bird family Casuariidae has four surviving members: the three species of cassowary, and the only remaining species of Emu.
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Dromaius is a genus of Ratite present in Australia. There is one extant species, Dromaius novaehollandiae commonly known as the Emu.

In his original 1816 description of the emu, Vieillot used two generic names; first Dromiceius, then Dromaius
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Emu may refer to:
  • Emu, a large, flightless bird
  • Emu (journal) (Emu - Austral Ornithology), a scientific journal
  • Emu Field (alternatively known as Emu or Emu Junction), the location of the first atomic test that occurred on the Australian mainland in 1953

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In biology, trinomial nomenclature refers to names for taxa below the rank of species. This is different for animals and plants:
  • for animals see trinomen. There is only one rank allowed below the rank of species: subspecies.
  • for plants see ternary name.

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William Henry Dudley Le Souef (1856-1923) was a founding member, and founding Secretary, of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in (1901), also serving as President of that body 1907-1909.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
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1904 1905 1906 - 1907 - 1908 1909 1910

Year 1907 (MCMVII
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In scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names used for a single taxon. Usage and terminology are different for zoology and botany.

Zoology

In zoological nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names that pertain to the same taxon, for example
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William Henry Dudley Le Souef (1856-1923) was a founding member, and founding Secretary, of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in (1901), also serving as President of that body 1907-1909.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1870s  1880s  1890s  - 1900s -  1910s  1920s  1930s
1904 1905 1906 - 1907 - 1908 1909 1910

Year 1907 (MCMVII
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extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
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Please discuss this issue on the talk page and read the lead section guide to make sure the introduction summarizes the article.
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Emu may refer to:
  • Emu, a large, flightless bird
  • Emu (journal) (Emu - Austral Ornithology), a scientific journal
  • Emu Field (alternatively known as Emu or Emu Junction), the location of the first atomic test that occurred on the Australian mainland in 1953

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Tasmania

Flag Coat of Arms
Slogan or Nickname: Island of Inspiration; The Apple Isle; Holiday Isle
Motto(s): "Ubertas et Fidelitas" (Fertility and Faithfulness)

Other Australian states and territories
Capital Hobart
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The Late Pleistocene (also known as Upper Pleistocene or the Tarantian) is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of Eemian interglacial phase before final glacial episode of Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago.
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D. baudinianus

Binomial name
Dromaius baudinianus
Shane A. Parker, 1984

Synonyms
Dromaius minor

Kangaroo Island Emu (Dromaius baudinianus
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The small population size of some species has various harmful consequences for their survival.

Demographic effects

The influence of stochastic (random) variation in demographic (reproductive and mortality) rates is much higher for small populations than large ones.
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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Subfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the condition in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization.
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pest is an organism which has characteristics that are regarded as injurious or unwanted. This is most often because it causes damage to agriculture through feeding on crops or parasitising livestock, such as codling moth on apples, or boll weevil on cotton.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1800s  1810s  1820s  - 1830s -  1840s  1850s  1860s
1835 1836 1837 - 1838 - 1839 1840 1841

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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The British Museum

Established 1754
Location Great Russell Street, London WC1, England
Collection size 13+ million objects
Museum area 13.5 acres/ 588,000 ft²/ 94 Galleries[1]
Visitor figures 4,600,000 (2005–2006)[2]
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