You would be surprised at the number of genera within a species that have a single member. You want to meet one? Moluccan Megapode is of this type of species.
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The only member of its kind?
Today, the eulipoa wallacei, known by the common name of Moluccan Megapode, is the only representative of the genus Eulipoa. It is endemic to the Moluccas (New Guinea), being found in Halmahera, Buru, Seram, Ambon, Ternate, Haruku and Bacan, although it is considered that in some of these areas it may be instinct.
This species of bird lives in the rainforests, however, during the breeding season it marches to the shores to take advantage of the sand on the beaches.
What does it look like?
It is a medium sized bird that can measure up to 31 cm and one of the smallest in the taleglion family. The male weighs 510 grams, while the female weighs slightly less, between 490-500 grams.
No sexual dimorphism. Its head is covered with a series of dark feathers mixed with a slight shade of violet, except in the eye ring area of the eye. The same type of feathers are distributed to the lower part of your body.
Its wings, on the other hand, have more uniform feathers. They are brown except in the area of the tip of the wings, which are of a reddish tone and when they are closed draws a strip on the body.
What’s its character?
The truth is, it’s a bird that hasn’t been much researched by experts. Some believe that it is not as territorial as the rest of talegalos, and that it is only aggressive when it makes very loud sounds to scare away the rest of the birds in its domain.
Their reproduction could be between September and December, but in some areas they have been found to occur between March and May. When the time comes for reproduction, males and females move to the shores.
In them, the male makes a hole in a kind of mound in the sand, made of materials that can rot to form a good layer of protection for the eggs. Afterwards, it will mate with one or more females. The females they mate with will be able to lay eggs in the nest, which are not always all from the same male. When the nest is full, the male will coat the eggs with a layer of sand.
It is a species that when young has a low survival rate, since the chicks when they are born have to leave the ground and then survive on their own, because the parents after having covered the nest return to their habitat in the forests.
It is not well known what they eat, but they probably do the same as other members of their family and their diet is made up of grains and some invertebrate insects, as well as fruits that fall from trees.
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