Yap warbler

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Yap warbler
Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Superfamily : Sylvioidea
Family : Reed warbler (Acrocephalidae)
Genre : Reed warbler ( Acrocephalus )
Type : Yap warbler
Scientific name
Acrocephalus astrolabii
Holyoak & Thibault , 1978

The reed warbler or astrolabe reed warbler ( Acrocephalus astrolabii ) is an extinct passerine bird from the reed warbler family (Acrocephalidae). He was originally considered subspecies of Sprosserrohrsängers ( Acrocephalus luscinius ), but was in 2011 recognized as a separate species. The type epithet refers to the expedition of the research vessel Astrolabe , during which the Yap warbler was discovered between 1838 and 1839. Only two specimens of the Yap reed warbler are known, but their origin is unknown. Assumptions relate either to Yap in the Carolinen or Mangareva in the Gambier Islands .

features

The body length was about 17 to 18 cm. The holotype measures the wing length 100 mm, the tail length 83 mm, the beak ridge length 29.5 mm and the barrel length 33 mm. In the paratype , the wing length is 99 mm, the tail length 86.5 mm, the ridge length 29.5 mm and the barrel length 31.5 mm. The top is generally dull greyish-olive. The eyebrows and the underside are light yellow in color. A dark streak runs through the eye. The upper beak is dark brown, the lower beak ocher brown. The iris is dark brown. The legs and feet are gray. The reed warbler was similar to the reed warbler. However, it was larger and had a relatively shorter beak. Other distinguishing features were the extraordinarily strong feet, legs and claws as well as the almost monochrome top, which lacks the light feather hems.

Habitat and way of life

Habitat, vocalizations and way of life were never studied.

origin

The exact origin of the two specimens is still not sufficiently clear. They were collected between 1838 and 1839 on the second Astrolabe expedition under Jules Dumont d'Urville and described in 1978 by David T. Holyoak and Jean-Claude Thibault as a subspecies of the reed warbler. The holotype is said to come from the island of Mangareva in the Gambier Islands and the paratype from Nouheva (now Nuku Hiva ) in the Marquesas . Both Holyoak and Thibault doubted both. They argue that the size of the birds speaks against an origin of Mangareva and suspect that the specimens could have come from Micronesia . On the other hand, they consider it unlikely that both specimens come from islands as far away as Mangareva and Nuku Hiva. Dumont d'Urville visited the islands of Losap , Truk , Guam , Yap and Peleliu in Micronesia. Holyoak and Thibault noted in 1978:

“The high volcanic island of Yap, of which no reed warbler is known, could be the origin of the astrolabe hides. The first real ornithological expedition took place many years later when Hartlaub and Finsch (1872) described some endemic land birds. A reed warbler could have died out before then. "

Guesses about Mangareva's origins were fueled again in 2011 after Alice Cibois and her colleagues presented a DNA study of the Pacific reed warbler. Cibois et al. argue that the reed warbler is only distantly related to the reed warbler , but closely related to the northern Marquesas reed warbler ( Acrocephalus percernis ). They also noted that a number of travelogues existed which reported lost reed warbler bellows from the Gambier Islands. In 1934 the native name komako , which is used for the reed warbler of the Marquesas, is said to have been in use on the Gambier Islands for an extinct bird species.

status

The reed warbler was added to the list of extinct bird species by the IUCN in 2016 . The exact cause and time of extinction are not known. Presumably, deforestation and the pursuit of imported predators have played a role in its disappearance.

literature

  • David T. Holyoak & Jean-Claude Thibault: Undescribed Acrocephalus Warblers from Pacific Ocean Islands In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club Vol 98, 1978, pp 125-127
  • Peter Kennerley, David Pearson: Reed and Bush Warblers. Christopher Helm, 2010, ISBN 978-0713660227 , p. 458.
  • Michael P. Walters & Julian Pender Hume: Extinct Birds , Poyser Monographes A & C Black, 2012. ISBN 978-140-815-725-1 . P. 256

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Josep del Hoyo, Nigel Collar, David A. Christie, Andrew Elliott, Lincoln DC Fishpool, Guy M. Kirwan and Peter Boesman: HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World Volume 2 (Passerines) . Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, ​​2016. ISBN 978-84-96553-98-9
  2. ↑ Avibase: Acrocephalus astrolabii
  3. ↑ a b c d Alice Cibois, Jon S. Beadell, Gary R. Graves, Eric Pasquet, Beth Slikas , Sarah A. Otherwisehagen & Robert C. Fleischer : Charting the course of reed ‐ warblers across the Pacific islands. Journal of Biogeography, 38 (10), 2011: 1963-1975
  4. ↑ a b c d Alice Cibois, Jean-Claude Thibault & Eric Pasquet: Molecular and morphological analysis of Pacific reed warbler specimens of dubious origin, including Acrocephalus luscinius astrolabii In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. Volume 131, No. 1, March 2011
  5. ^ A b c d David T. Holyoak & Jean-Claude Thibault: Undescribed Acrocephalus Warblers from Pacific Ocean Islands In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club Vol 98, 1978, pp. 125-127