The megapode was similar in size to, or slightly larger than, the living Orange-footed Scrubfowl, though it had reduced wings and more robust legs, suggesting that it was flightless or almost flightless.
Viti Levu | Vanua Levu | Viti Levu Snipe | Viti Levu Scrubfowl | Viti Levu Group | Orange-footed Scrubfowl | Biak Scrubfowl | A possible portrait of Viti at the far right of this detail from Raphael's The School of Athens |
By 1998 he spend on Fiji, where he found subfossil material of the flightless Viti Levu Giant Pigeon (Natunaornis gigoura), the Viti Levu Scrubfowl (Megapodius amissus), the Viti Levu Snipe (Coenocorypha miratropica), the Giant Fiji ground frog (Platymantis megabotoniviti), and the small freshwater crocodile Volia athollandersoni.