Moa-nalo

Moa-nalo were extinct, flightless Hawaiian waterfowl descended from ancestral ducks. The group included several genera whose members evolved large bodies and reduced wings.

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Anatidae: Anatidae is the bird family containing ducks, geese, and swans. Moa-nalo were unusual, flightless members of this waterfowl family.
Insular evolution: Insular evolution is evolutionary change in populations living on islands. Isolation and reduced predation shaped moa-nalo after ducks reached Hawaii.
Hawaiian Islands: The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago formed by volcanic activity over a mantle hotspot in the Pacific Ocean. Moa-nalo evolved across this isolated archipelago.
Chelychelynechen: Chelychelynechen is an extinct moa-nalo genus known from fossils on Kauai. Its robust skull and bill distinguish one of the group's named genera.
Human impact on the environment: Human impact on the environment is the alteration of ecosystems through human activity. Human settlement transformed habitats and introduced pressures affecting Hawaiian birds.
Anas: Anas is a genus of ducks that includes mallards and many other dabbling ducks. Moa-nalo ancestry traces to dabbling ducks related to this genus.
Island tameness: Island tameness is reduced fear of predators in animals evolving where predators are scarce. Moa-nalo evolved among native Hawaiian predators without mammalian land hunters.
Hawaii Island: Hawaii Island is the largest and youngest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. Moa-nalo fossils on Hawaii Island document the group's island distribution.
Thambetochen: Thambetochen is an extinct moa-nalo genus known from fossils on Maui Nui and Hawaii Island. Its species represent large-bodied members of the group.
Polynesian rat: The Polynesian rat is a rodent spread across the Pacific by human voyagers. Introduced rats could prey on eggs and young of flightless island birds.