The genus name Talpanas is taken from the Latin word talpa, meaning mole and referring to the small size of the eyes, and the Greek word anas, or duck. The species name lippa is from the Latin lippus, meaning "nearly blind".[2]
Description
The tarsometatarsi (lower leg bones) of Talpanas lippa were short and stout, and the braincase shallow and wide relative to its length. It had very small orbits (eye sockets) and also very small optic foramina (holes in the skull through which the optic nerves pass as they travel from the eyes to the brain). Together, these physical characteristics show that the eyes and optic nerve of this duck were quite reduced in size, and it can be assumed that this species was probably both blind and flightless.[2] However, the maxillo-mandibular foramina (holes through which the trigeminal nerve passes) are extremely large, indicating larger nerves were travelling through it. The authors hypothesize that this blind, or nearly blind, duck would have used tactile and olfactory stimuli (the senses of touch and smell) from its beak to explore its surroundings in the absence of good vision.[2]
Talpanas lippa was probably nocturnal and terrestrial, similar to kiwi in New Zealand which prey on small invertebrates in forest soil litter. Its bill may have resembled that of a platypus.
References
^Julian Pender Hume, Michael Walters: Extinct Birds. A & C Black, London 2012. ISBN140815725X., p 57
^ abBurney; et al. (2001). "Fossil evidence for a diverse biota from Kaua'i and its transformation since human arrival". Ecological Monographs. 71 (4). Washington, DC: Ecological Society of America: 615–641. doi:10.1890/0012-9615(2001)071[0615:fefadb]2.0.co;2. ISSN0012-9615.
