Tahiti rail plantations. Its diet appears to have consisted mainly of insects and occasionally copra (coconut meat). The extinction of the Tahiti rail was probably due to predation by humans and introduced cats and rats. It appears to have become extinct some time after 1844 on Tahiti, and perhaps as late as the 1930s on Mehetia. The Tahiti rail was found on the South Pacific island of Tahiti (part of the Society Islands archipelago) by naturalists who were part of the British explorer James Cook's second voyage around the world (1772–1775). The bird was illustrated by Georg Forster, who accompanied his father,
Tahiti rail on Latham's account. In 1844 the German naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein published J.R. Forster's account of the discoveries made during the journey, including his description of the Tahiti rail. J.R. Forster indicated that the Tahiti rail was called "Oomnaa" or "Eboonàa" on Tahiti and neighbouring islands, and "Oomèia-Keteòw" on Tonga, though he specified only Tahiti and nearby islands as being part of its range. "Tevea" also appears to have been one of the common names for the bird. In 1967 the American ornithologist James Greenway wrote that the bird was said by Polynesians to have also existed on the island of