Nycticorax duboisi
The Réunion Night Heron, *Nycticorax duboisi*, was an endemic, now extinct, species known exclusively from subfossil remains discovered on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Belonging to the family Ardeidae, its closest living relative is the widespread Black-crowned Night Heron (*Nycticorax nycticorax*), though *N. duboisi* was significantly larger, a common adaptation in island gigantism. Subfossil evidence suggests a robust, relatively short-legged heron, likely characterized by the typic...
Endemic to Réunion Island, this species likely inhabited freshwater wetlands, coastal lagoons, and forested areas adjacent to water bodies from sea level to moderate elevations.
Its diet likely consisted of aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, small reptiles, and large insects, hunted primarily in shallow waters.
Inferences drawn from its extant relatives suggest *Nycticorax duboisi* was primarily nocturnal or crepuscular, spending its days roosting communally in dense vegetation. Foraging likely involved a 'sit-and-wait' or 'stalk-and-strike' technique along wetland edges, preying on aquatic life. Due to...
The Réunion Night Heron was endemic solely to Réunion Island, a volcanic island located in the Mascarene Archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. Its historical distribution would have encompassed the entire island, wherever suitable wetland and coastal habitats were present, from sea level up to...
Extinct
- The Réunion Night Heron is known only from subfossil bone fragments, primarily leg bones, discovered on Réunion Island. - It was significantly larger than its living relative, the Black-crowned Night Heron, an example of 'island gigantism. - The species was described scientifically by Julian P....