Which extinct Madagascan bird is the kiwi's nearest living kin based on genetic mapping?

Answer

Elephant birds (Aepyornithiformes)

Modern comprehensive molecular studies have definitively established that the kiwi's closest living relatives are the extinct elephant birds, belonging to the group Aepyornithiformes, which inhabited Madagascar. This relationship is geographically striking because Madagascar and New Zealand have been separated landmasses for immense geological timescales. This connection implies that the common ancestor shared by kiwi and elephant birds was present before the major continental separation occurred, placing the kiwi's lineage divergence far earlier than previously assumed based on morphology or proximity to other local flightless birds like the Moa. The genetic evidence overrides the morphological suggestion of a close tie between kiwi and Moa.

Which extinct Madagascan bird is the kiwi's nearest living kin based on genetic mapping?

Related Questions

Which extinct Madagascan bird is the kiwi's nearest living kin based on genetic mapping?What characteristic defines the group of flightless birds known as ratites, which includes the kiwi?What primary evidence led older studies to suggest the kiwi was a close cousin of the extinct Moa?Where are the external nares, which enhance the kiwi's sense of smell, uniquely situated on its bill?What does the divergence timeline suggest about the kiwi ancestors before they lost flight?The current evolutionary narrative suggests the kiwi lineage diverged from other ratites very early on. Approximately how long ago might this separation have occurred?What specific physical characteristics define the kiwi's terrestrial adaptation in New Zealand?Why has the kiwi's morphology, such as flightlessness, proven scientifically misleading about its deep ancestry?What threat do modern invasive mammalian predators like stoats exploit in the kiwi population?What hypothesis regarding kiwi ancestors was briefly supported by a fossil discovery concerning geography?
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