Leon Huynen; Brian J. Gill; Anthony Doyle; Craig D. Millar; David M. Lambert

“ The analysis of growth in extinct organisms is difficult. The general lack of skeletal material from a range of developmental states precludes determination of growth characteristics. For New Zealand's extinct moa we have available to us a selection of rare femora at different developmental stages that have allowed a preliminary determination of the early growth of this giant flightless bird. We use a combination of femora morphometrics, ancient DNA, and isotope analysis to provide information on the identification, classification, and growth of extinct moa from the genus Euryapteryx. ”

“ To date, only one embryonic moa has been identified to species, where bones associated with an egg were shown to belong to the heavy-footed moa Pachyornis elephantopus [2] , [8] . As bones of developing chicks, which often lack identifying characters, are particularly difficult to identify [1] , [2] we use a minimally destructive technique to genetically assign differently sized immature moa femora to the species level. We then use bone morphometrics to present a growth series of chick femora for Euryapteryx. ”

“ Therefore the size of LB6261c suggests it was from a recent hatchling. Further evidence for the extreme immaturity of this femur is the lack of caudal tuberosities on the femur shaft, a feature of the femur that separates Dinornis from the emeid moas [1] , [2] . ”