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MEGALAPTERYX TENUIPESLYD.
- Megalapteryx tenuipes Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Birds Brit. Mus. p. 251 (1891).
This species was described from the tibio-tarsus, which is longer and relatively more slender than in M. hectori. Its distal width is about one-ninth of its length, while in M. hectori it is about one-seventh. The length of the tibio-tarsus is approximately 0.405 mm. = 16 inches, and width of distal extremity about 0.044 = 1.74 inches. Type specimens Nos. 49989 and 49990, British Museum.
Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand, and perhaps North Island. (Type locality Lake Wakatipa, Queenstown, Otago.)
Complete skeleton in the Tring Museum.
Mr. Lydekker mentions also a right femur from the North Island, of the same proportions as those of M. tenuipes and 0.255 m. (= 10.1 inches) long. It may probably belong to a different form, as we know M. tenuipes otherwise only from the Middle Island.
