Tanna earth dove

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Tanna earth dove
TannaGroundDove.jpg

Tanna pigeon ( Alopecoenas ferrugineus )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Pigeon birds (Columbiformes)
Family : Pigeons (Columbidae)
Genre : Indo-Pacific earth pigeons ( Alopecoenas )
Type : Tanna earth dove
Scientific name
Alopecoenas ferrugineus
( Forster , 1844)

The Tanna earth dove ( Alopecoenas ferrugineus ) is an extinct species of pigeon . Their taxonomic affiliation is uncertain . Johann Georg Wagler assigned it to the genus Gallicolumba in the first scientific description based on Georg Forster's notes . It was endemic to the Pacific island of Tanna ( New Hebrides ).

description

The Tanna earth dove is only known from a single female who was drawn on Tanna by Georg Forster during Cook's second trip around the world to the South Seas in August 1774. This picture hangs in the Natural History Museum in London today . According to Forster's description, the animal was 27 cm long. The head and chest were russet. The back was colored dark red-purple. The wings were a dark green tint. The wings were brown-gray with narrow, pale edges. The belly was gray; the bill black with a slight curve on the wax skin. The iris was yellowish and the feet were red in color.

die out

The exact year of extinction is not known. All information about this bird species comes from Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg. On August 5, 1774, the Resolution anchored off Tanna and the Forsters made some studies of the flora and indigenous people . On August 17, 1774, a specimen of a hitherto unknown pigeon species was sighted and shot. This copy later disappeared. After that, this pigeon species was never seen again, so that the only evidence of existence is Georg Forster's drawing and marginal note.

swell

  • Errol Fuller: Extinct Birds - Oxford University Press, 2000

literature

  • Errol Fuller: Extinct Birds . Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8160-1833-2 .
  • David Day: The Doomsday Book of Animals . Ebury Press, London 1981, ISBN 0670279870 .

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