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
Micronesian megapode the multiple threats across its range, it is likely to be suffering from a continuing decline. It seems that the only way for the species to be safe is to protect a few small islands and release a small population of megapodes there. That way, a safe population is secured. On the larger and higher islands, an increase of people and introduced pests will sooner or later destroy any megapode populations. The Marianas Island megapode or "Megapodius laperouse laperouse" is the nominate subspecies of the Micronesian megapode found in the Mariana Islands. It is rare, localised and in danger of