The Ascension crake (Mundia elpenor) is an extinct flightless bird that previously lived on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. Like many other flightless birds on isolated islands, it was a rail. It was declared extinct by Groombridge in 1994; BirdLife International confirmed this in 2000 and 2004.
The bird was endemic to Ascension Island. Numerous subfossil bones of the bird have been found in deposits at the base of vertical fumaroles. Peter Mundy, a 17th-century merchant and traveler gave an account of the bird and made a sketch of it when he visited Ascension Island in June 1656. It was described by Mundy as:
a strange kind of fowle, much bigger then our sterlings ore stares: collour gray or dappled, white and blacke feathers intermixed, eies red like rubies, wings very imperfitt, such as wherewith they cannot raise themselves from the ground. They were taken running, in which they are exceeding swift, helping themselves a little with their wings (as it is said of the estridge), shortt billed, cloven footed, that can neither fly nor swymme.
It most likely lived in the near-desert areas of the island and primarily ate sooty tern (Sterna fuscata) eggs. It is probable that it became extinct after rats were introduced to the island in the 18th century, but it may have survived until the introduction of feral cats in 1815.
The bird was regarded by Storrs Olson as a relative of Atlantisia rogersi,[2] but recent analysis (Bourne et al., 2003) has shown that the differences between the two are greater than previously appreciated. The new genus Mundia (named after the discoverer Peter Mundy) was created in 2003.
^BirdLife International (2016). "Mundia elpenor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22728746A94995240. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22728746A94995240.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
^Olson, Storrs L. (1973). "Evolution of the rails of the South Atlantic islands (Aves: Rallidae)". Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology (152): 1–53. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.152. ISSN 0081-0282.
The Ascensioncrake (Mundia elpenor) is an extinct flightless bird that previously lived on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. Like many other...
The Ascensioncrake (Mundia elpenor) and the Saint Helena swamphen (Aphanocrex podarces) were once considered congeners of A. rogersi. The Ascension crake...
noddy and Ascension frigatebird. The Ascensioncrake became extinct around the beginning of the nineteenth century. Off the east coast of Ascension is the...
The avian family Rallidae comprise the rails, crakes, and coots. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 152 species distributed...
this bird. Ascensioncrake, Mundia elpenor (Ascension Island, South Atlantic, late 17th century) – formerly Atlantisia Saint Helena crake, Zapornia astrictocarpus...
New Guinea flightless rail Genus Micropygia - ocellated crake Genus Mundia - Ascensioncrake Genus Mustelirallus Genus Nesoclopeus Genus Paragallinula...
tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers. Corn crake, Crex crex Ascensioncrake, Mundia elpenor (E) extinct Eurasian moorhen, Gallinula chloropus...
bird species, including the Saint Helena hoopoe, the Ascension night heron and the Ascensioncrake. During a month-long research period on fossil birds...
(barred-backed crakes) Genus Hapalocrex (Yellow-breasted Crakes) Genus Limnocrex Genus Mundia Bourne, Ashmole & Simmons, 2003 (Ascension Island Crakes) Genus...
and on snails. Like other ground-nesting birds such as the Saint Helena crake and the Saint Helena hoopoe it became a victim of alien predators like cats...
Dark0 Lex Murphy Dennis Nedry Kidd Bobby W1n5t0n M1K3Y Henry Dorsett Case Crake Nick Haflinger Da5id Meier Hiro Protagonist In the context of the plot,...
Extinction of Ascension flightless crake Death of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira Franco Andrea Bonelli discovers Bonelli's warbler and Bonelli's eagle named...
the island – the Saint Helena rail (Aphanocrex podarces), Saint Helena crake (Zapornia astrictocarpus), Saint Helena dove (Dysmoropelia dekarchikos)...
endemic birds of Saint Helena include the Saint Helena rail, the Saint Helena crake, the Saint Helena dove, and the Saint Helena cuckoo. (Of these, the dove...