Auckland Island merganser
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The Auckland Island merganser (Mergus australis) (Template:Langx),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> also known as the New Zealand merganser, is an extinct species of typical merganser.
Description
This duck was similar in size to the red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator). The adult male had a dark reddish-brown head, crest and neck, with bluish black mantle and tail and slate grey wings.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The female was slightly smaller with a shorter crest.
History
The Auckland Island merganser was known from the Auckland Islands archipelago, part of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands. The only historical records are from Auckland Island and Adams Island. Holocene bones were found on Enderby Island.<ref name=":0">Miskelly, Colin & Forsdick, Natalie & Gill, Brian & Palma, Ricardo & Rawlence, Nicolas & Tennyson, Alan. (2022). CHECKLIST OF THE BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361824003_CHECKLIST_OF_THE_BIRDS_OF_NEW_ZEALAND</ref> The species was formally described in 1841.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The closely related extinct Chatham Island merganser (Mergus milleneri) is known from Holocene bones found on Chatham Island, New Zealand.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The species identity of merganser bones from mainland New Zealand - North, South, and Stewart Islands - is unresolved.<ref name=":0" />
Extinction
The last specimens were apparently a pair shot on 9 January 1902, and the species is now extinct.<ref name=":0" /> It was not found in a 1909 search, and a thorough 1972/1973 exploration of possible habitat concluded that it was long extinct.<ref>Williams, G. R. & Weller, M. W.. (1974): Unsuccessful search for the Auckland Islands Merganser (Mergus australis). Notornis 21(3): 246–249. PDF fulltext</ref> Its decline was caused by a combination of hunting and predation by introduced mammals.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>