Noble megapode and "rostrum" (bill), referring to the extraordinarily large vertical dimension of its bill. Worthy also suggested “Noble Megapode” would be an appropriate vernacular name for the bird. It was described by New Zealand palaeontologist Trevor Worthy in October 1998 from subfossil remains collected by Worthy, G. Udy and S. Mataraba. Sites containing remains include the Udit Tomo cave at Wainibuku, Voli Voli and Delai-ni-qara caves on the island of Viti Levu, as well as on Naigani Island. The holotype is held by the Museum of New Zealand (reg. no: S.037362). In its time it was probably the largest bird in
Megapode was thought to exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination, this was later proven false; temperature does, however, affect embryo mortality and resulting offspring sex ratios. The nonsocial nature of their incubation raises questions as to how the hatchlings come to recognise other members of their species, which is due to imprinting in other members of the order Galliformes. Research suggests an instinctive visual recognition of specific movement patterns is made by the individual species of megapode. Megapode chicks do not have an egg tooth; they use their powerful claws to break out of the egg, and then tunnel their way up to