Rodrigues solitaire

**Rodrigues** solitaria is an extinct bird in the family Pezophaps *solitaria* and the only species in **the genus** Pezophaps , endemic to the island of Rodrigues in Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and Raphus culullatus, another bird that also lives in Mauritius ) are close relatives, and the closest relative of the existing relatives is the green tuftan turtle.

The Rodrigues solitaire is comparable in size to a swan and also has significant sexual dimorphism. Males can be up to 90 cm (35 in) long and can weigh up to 28 kg (62 lb); Females, on the other hand, are only 70 cm (28 inches) long and weigh only 17 kg (37 lbs). The plumage is brown or gray, and the female has a lighter coat than the male. The female lays one egg at a time, which is incubated by both the female and the male. Feed on fruits and seeds.

## Taxonomy and origin

François Lega first mentioned the bird under the name "hermit" (referring to its solitary lifestyle), although it has been suggested that the scientist borrowed the name from a tract mentioning the Reunion dodo. The bird according to binomial nomenclature was classified as one of the subspecies of the Mauritian dodo and was named *Didus solitarius* by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in the thirteenth edition of the "System of Nature".

In 1848, Hugh Edwin Strickland and Alexander Gordon Melville proposed a theory of the common origin of the Rodrigues and Mauritian dodos. They analyzed only known stuffed Mauritian dodos with soft tissues, comparing them with the remains of several Rodrigues solitaire. Strickland stated that although the remains were not identical, these birds had many common characteristics in the bones of the legs, inherent only in pigeons. The fact that the Rodrigues dodo laid only one egg, ate fruit, was a monogamous bird, and cared for its chicks also maintained this bond. Strickland recognized this generic distinction and gave the new genus the name *Pezophaps*, which translates from Greek as "foot pigeon." The differences between the sexes of the bird were so significant that Strickland thought they were two species, giving the smaller one the name *Pezophaps minor*. Later studies of the skeleton of the Rodrigues dodo by Alfred and Edward Newton showed that the species occupied an intermediate morphological position between the Mauritian dodo and the common pigeon, but differs from them in its unique bone growths.

For a long time, the Mauritian and Rodrigues dodos were in the dodo family, as their relationship with other pigeons remained uncertain for a long time. These two species were also placed in separate monotypic families, *Raphidae* and *Pezophapidae*, respectively, according to the assumption that each of them evolved independently. Recent osteological and molecular evidence has led to the placement of dodos in the subfamily *Raphinae*, which is part of the pigeon family.

A comparative analysis of the cytochrome B gene and *the 12S* sequence mRNA taken from the femur of the Rodrigues dodo and the tarsus of the Mauritian dodo confirmed their close relationship and placement within the pigeon family. Genetic data have also shown that the maned pigeon in Southeast Asia is their closest relative after the fan-shaped crowned pigeon and the toothed-billed pigeon. The following cladogram shows the close relationship of the Rodrigues solitaire in the pigeon family, as well as clades of island endemics.

A similar cladogram was published in 2007, characterized by the inverted position of the clade with fan-bearing crowned and tooth-billed pigeons, as well as the inclusion of a pheasant pigeon and a thick-billed pigeon. In 2002, a study showed that the ancestors of the Mauritian and Rodrigues dodo separated at the Paleogene-Neogene border. The Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues) are islands of volcanic origin and less than 10 million years old, so the ancestors of dodos, most likely, after separating from their ancestry, could fly for a long time. The lack of herbivorous mammals that could compete with dodos for resources on these islands allowed the Rodrigues and Mauritian dodos to reach large sizes. DNA taken in Oxford from a stuffed dodo was in poor condition, and was not used in studies of fossil remains, so data on the size of the bird still need to be independently verified.
Several reports mention other dodos from the Mascarene Islands. The word "dodo" has also been used to refer to other species with a solitary lifestyle, such as the Reunion ibis. Some scholars believed that Réunion Island was not only the home of a Mauritian but also a Reunion dodo (old reports of which are now misinterpretations). Non-standard descriptions of the Mauritian dodo and its bones of the XVII century, discovered on the island of Rodrigues (which are now known to belong to the Rodrigues solitaire) led Abraham Dee Bartlett to the appearance of the name of a new species - *Didus nazarenus*, the younger synonym of this species.

## Nutrition

The discovery of stomach stones in solitary skeletons is seen by some scientists as an indication that the solitaire fed on large, hard plant seeds, whose massive shell it destroyed with the help of the stones in its stomach. Thus, the solitaire would have played a key role in the spread of the sapote plant *Sideroxylon galeatum*. This tree species, endemic to Rodrigues, is rare today, but may have been a dominant plant on the island in earlier times.

## History

The first observation of the bird was made by François Leguat, the head of a group of French Huguenots who colonized the island from 1691 to 1693. He described the bird in some detail, including its solitary nesting behavior. The Huguenots praised the bird for its taste, especially that of the young.

Due to hunting and the introduction of predators such as the cat, birds soon became scarce and when, in 1755, Cossigny tried to obtain a specimen he could not find it. Rodriguez's solitaire probably became extinct around 1760.