Today scientists consider there to be 9 species of moa in 6 genera. All are extinct. This specimen has been recorded as an Eastern moa. However recent conservation work has uncovered that, like most species of moa, it has 5 bones in the outermost toe. The Eastern moa should only have 4. Other records at Christchurch Museum suggest that the specimen was once labelled Palapteryx geranoides. We hope future research will resolve this mystery. Photographs show the specimen in the conservation lab.
