Norfolk Earth Dove
| Norfolk Earth Dove | ||||||||||
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Norfolk Earth Dove, illustration by John Hunter from 1790 |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Alopecoenas norfolkensis | ||||||||||
| Forshaw , 2015 |
The Norfolk pigeon ( Alopecoenas norfolkensis , Syn .: Gallicolumba norfolciensis ) is an extinct pigeon from the genus of the Indo-Pacific pigeon . It was endemic to Norfolk Island .
description
The Norfolk Earth Dove is best known from a description by ornithologist John Latham , a drawing by John Hunter from 1790, and four fossil bones found in Cemetery Bay and Emily Bay on Norfolk Island in 1985 and 1997. According to Latham's description, the Norfolk pigeon was about 35 centimeters tall. The head, neck and chest were white. The underside and beak were black. The tail was purple black and the legs red. According to calculations by the New Zealand paleozoologist Richard N. Holdaway, the Norfolk pigeon weighed 200 grams.
die out
When the Europeans colonized Norfolk Island in 1774, they found bird species that were not shy about anything. Within a short time, the Norfolk pigeon was wiped out by overhunting and introduced mammals. Towards the end of the 18th century it was no longer proven.
Systematics
The taxonomic position and validity of the Norfolk earth pigeon is controversial. When John Latham published the first scientific description of Columba norfolciensis in 1801 , he only partially referred to John Hunter's drawing. Since no type specimen was available, he probably chose a combination of the white-breasted pigeon ( Columba leucomela ) (a stranger to the Norfolk Island) and the brown-capped gloss pigeon ( Chalcophaps longirostris ), which was probably introduced to the Norfolk Island. In 2010, the uncertain identity and confusing use of Latham's binomials led the ICZN commission to officially suppress the scientific name Columba norfolciensis . The IOC and the IUCN followed this view in 2014 and removed the Norfolk earth dove from their list of valid species. With regard to Hunter's drawing and the existing subfossil material, the Norfolk earth dove could be a previously undescribed species, which, due to the splitting of the genus Gallicolumba in 2011, can now be assigned to the genus Alopecoenas . In 2015, Alopocoenas norfolkensis was formally rewritten by Joseph Michael Forshaw .
literature
- Errol Fuller: Extinct Birds. Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8160-1833-2
- A. Tennyson and P. Martinson: Extinct birds of New Zealand. Te Papa Press, 2006, ISBN 0-909010-21-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ OPINION 2251 (Case 3442) Columba norfolciensis Latham, 1801 (Aves, COLUMBIDAE): name suppressed
- ↑ IOC Species Update October 2014
- ↑ BirdLife: Additional changes to species listed as Extinct: six (edited from five) Extinct species are being re-categorized as Not Recognized and 12 taxa (edited from 11) are being newly recognized as Extinct species
- ↑ JM Forshaw: Pigeons and Doves in Australia , 2015, pp. 84-85
Web links
- Alopecoenas norfolciensis in the IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008 ( Memento from April 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- Holdaway, RN & Anderson, A .: Avifauna from the Emily Bay Settlement Site, Norfolk Island: A Preliminary Account PDF Volltext
- Holdaway, RN, Worthy, TH & Tennyson, AJD: A working list of breeding bird species of the New Zealand region at first human contact . In: New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 2001, Vol. 28: pp. 119–187 PDF full text; 5.35 MB