NEWS – Flightless Aldabra rail went extinct over 130,000 years ago, but the species then reappeared via iterative evolution

WHAT IS ITERATIVE EVOLUTION

• Process by which similar traits or adaptations evolve independently in different lineages over multiple generations
• Occurs when different species, facing similar environmental challenges or opportunities, independently develop similar traits through the process of natural selection
• Example : Bats and birds are distinct groups of organisms that independently evolved the ability to fly. Their wings have a similar function, allowing them to achieve flight, but the structural and genetic mechanisms differ. This is an example of convergent evolution in response to the ecological advantage of flight.

ALDABRA RAIL

• Scientific name – Dryolimnas cuvieri aldabranus
• Bird species native to Aldabra Atoll, part of the Seychelles archipelago
• Subspecies of the common white-throated rail
• Known for its fascinating evolutionary history, particularly its repeated evolution of flightlessness
• It’s about the size of a chicken, with a flecked gray back, a rusty red head and chest and a white throat
• A 2019 study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society examined the fossil record of rails in Aldabra and found evidence of a flightless rail on the atoll from before it was submerged beneath the waves 136,000 years ago