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He says researchers can’t reliably predict the molecular fingerprint of extinct megapodes based on those alive today, as Miller’s team did.

When the team compared the protein sequences with those found in modern megapode eggs, they were completely different, even falling outside the group that connects all living land birds, Demarchi says.

An endangered bird called the Tongan megapode buries its eggs in volcanic ash to keep them warm.

Instead, it’s quite likely P. gallinacea simply buried its eggs in warm sand or soil, just as some living megapodes in Indonesia and the Pacific still do.

Micronesian megapodes are the only birds known to incubate their eggs using the heat from volcanoes.