Coua berthae is an extinct species of coua, a large, mostly terrestrial bird in the cuckoo family, from Madagascar. It was the largest member of its genus, living or extinct.[1] It was named in honour of the Malagasy zoologist Berthe Rakotosamimanana.
Due to the length of the pelvis half of 68.2 millimetres (2.69 in) and the tarsometatarsus of 92.9 millimetres (3.66 in), it is assumed that Coua berthae represented the largest type of silk cuckoo.[2] An estimated minimum weight of 740 grams (26 oz) was calculated from the comparison of the basin lengths of four recent types of silk cuckoo using linear regression.[2] This estimated weight is twice that of Coua gigas - the largest of the living couas.[4] Given that all silk cuckoo species have proportionally small wing bones, it has been assumed that Coua berthae was not a good flyer.[1]
Coua berthae is known only from fossilized remains from the Holocene period; the exact time of extinction and the cause are unknown.[2] Deforestation could have been a contributing factor to its extinction.[5]
^Beolens, Bo. (2009). The eponym dictionary of mammals. Watkins, Michael, 1940-, Grayson, Michael. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 41. ISBN978-0-8018-9533-3. OCLC593239356.
^Goodman, Steven M. (4 September 2014). Extinct Madagascar : picturing the island's past. Jungers, William L., 1948-. Chicago. p. 139. ISBN978-0-226-14397-2. OCLC879538884.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Raherilalao, Marie Jeanne (2011). Histoire naturelle des familles et sous-familles endémiques d'oiseaux de Madagascar. Goodman, Steven M. Antananarivo, Madagascar: Association Vahatra. ISBN978-2-9538923-2-1. OCLC801102410.
