Hoopoe starling

In 1941, American ornithologist Malcolm R. Miller found the bird's musculature similar to that of the common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) after he dissected a specimen preserved in spirits at the Cambridge Museum, but noted that the tissue was very degraded and the similarity did not necessarily confirm a relationship with starlings.^[7] In 1957, American ornithologist Andrew John Berger cast doubt on the bird's affinity with starlings because of subtle anatomical differences, after dissecting a spirit specimen at the American Museum of Natural History.^[8] Some authors proposed a relationship with vangas (Vangidae), but Japanese ornithologist Hiroyuki Morioka rejected this in 1996, after a comparative study of skulls.^[9]

In 1875, British ornithologist

An earlier attempt by another team could not extract viable hoopoe starling DNA.^[19] Zuccon and colleagues suggested that ancestors of the hoopoe starling reached Réunion from Southeast Asia by using island chains as "stepping stones" across the Indian Ocean, a scenario also suggested for other Mascarene birds. Its lineage diverged from that of other starlings four million years ago (about two million years before Réunion emerged from the sea), so it may have first evolved on landmasses now partially submerged.^[18]

Extant relations, such as the Bali myna (Leucopsar rothschildi) and the white-headed starling (Sturnia erythropygia), have similarities in colouration and other features with the extinct Mascarene species. According to Hume, since the Rodrigues and Mauritius starlings seem morphologically closer to each other than to the hoopoe starling—which appears closer to Southeast Asian starlings—there may have been two separate migrations of starlings from Asia to the Mascarenes, with the hoopoe starling the latest arrival. Except for Madagascar, the Mascarenes were the only islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean with native starlings, probably because of their isolation, varied topography, and vegetation.^[15]

Description

The hoopoe starling was 30 cm (12 in) in length. The bird's

There has been confusion about which characteristics were sexually dimorphic in the species. Only three specimens were sexed (all males), with age and individual variation not considered. The male is thought to have been largest with a longer, curvier beak. In 1911, Réunion resident Eugène Jacob de Cordemoy recalled his observations of the bird about 50 years before, suggesting that only males had a white crest, but this is thought to be incorrect. A presumed female (MNHN 2000-756) in the Paris museum appears to have a smaller crest, a smaller and less-curved beak, and smaller primary coverts. A juvenile specimen (MHNT O2650) has a smaller crest and primary coverts, with a brown wash instead of ash grey on the crest, lore, and superciliary stripe, and a light-brown (instead of ash-brown) back. The juveniles of some southeast Asian starlings are also browner than adults.^[4]

Vinson, who observed live hoopoe starlings when he lived on Réunion, described the crest as flexible, disunited and forward-curled barbs of various lengths, highest in the centre, and able to be erected at will. He compared the bird's crest to that of a

Little is known about the behaviour of the hoopoe starling. According to François Levaillant's 1807 account of the bird (which included observations from a Réunion resident) it was abundant, with large flocks inhabiting humid areas and marshes. In 1831, Lesson, without explanation, described its habits as similar to those of a crow. Its song was described as a "bright and cheerful whistle" and "clear notes", indicating a similarity to the songs of other starlings.^[4] Vinson's 1877 account relates his experiences with the bird more than 50 years earlier:

Now these daughters of the wood, when they were numerous, flew in flocks and went thus in the rain forests, while deviating little from one another, as good companions or as nymphs taking a bath: they lived on berries, seeds and insects, and the créoles, disgusted by the latter fact, held them for an impure game. Sometimes, coming from the woods to the littoral [coast], always flying and leaping from tree to tree, branch to branch, they often alighted in swarms on coffee trees in bloom, and there was in the past the testimony of an inhabitant of the Island of Bourbon, said the naturalist Levaillant, that they caused big damage in coffee trees by making the flowers fall prematurely. But it is not the white flowers of coffee that the hoopoes were searching for and thus behaving so, it was for the caterpillars and insects that devoured them; and in this they made an important service to the silviculture of the Island of Bourbon and the rich coffee plantations, with which this land was then covered, the golden age of the country!^[4]

Like most other starlings, the hoopoe starling was

Many other endemic species on Réunion became extinct after the arrival of humans and the resulting disruption of the island's

Réunion parakeet, the Réunion swamphen, the Réunion scops owl, the Réunion night heron, and the Réunion pink pigeon. Extinct Réunion reptiles include the Réunion giant tortoise and an undescribed Leiolopisma skink. The small Mauritian flying fox and the snail Tropidophora carinata lived on Réunion and Mauritius before vanishing from both islands.^[23]

Relationship with humans

Specimens in Musée des beaux-arts de Troyes and the Pisa Charterhouse

The hoopoe starling was described as tame and easily hunted. In 1704, French pilot engineer Jean Feuilley explained how the birds were caught by humans and cats:

Hoopoes and merles [

Hypsipetes borbonicus] are the same fatness as those in France, and are of a marvellous taste, which are fat at the same time as parrots, living on the same foods. In order to catch them, hunting was done with staffs or long thin poles from six to seven feet in length, though this hunt is infrequently seen. The marrons [escaped] cats destroy many. These birds allow themselves to be approached very closely, so the cats take them without leaving their places.^[4]

The hoopoe starling was kept as a pet on Réunion and Mauritius, and although the bird was becoming scarcer, some specimens were obtained during the early 19th century. It is unknown whether any live specimens were ever transported from the Mascarenes. Cordemoy recalled that captive birds could be fed a wide variety of food, such as bananas, potatoes, and chayote, and wild birds would never enter inhabited areas. Many individuals survived on Mauritius after escaping there, and it was thought that a feral population could be established. The Mauritian population lasted less than a decade; the final specimen on the island (the last definite record of a live specimen anywhere) was taken in 1836. Specimens could still be collected on Réunion during the 1830s and, possibly, the early 1840s.^[4]

There are nineteen surviving hoopoe starling specimens in museums around the world (including one skeleton and two specimens preserved in spirit), with two in the Paris museum and four in Troyes. Additional skins in Turin, Livorno, and Caen were destroyed during World War II, and four skins have disappeared from Réunion and Mauritius (which now have one each). Specimens were sent to Europe beginning in the second half of the 18th century, with most collected during the first half of the 19th century. It is unclear when each specimen was acquired, and specimens were frequently moved between collections. It is also unclear which specimens were the basis for which descriptions and illustrations.^[4] The only known subfossil hoopoe starling specimen is a femur, discovered in 1993 in a Réunion grotto.^[24]

Extinction

Several causes for the decline and sudden extinction of the hoopoe starling have been proposed, all connected to the activities of humans on Réunion, who it survived alongside for two centuries. An oft-repeated suggestion is that the introduction of the

wolf snake (Lycodon aulicum), which may have deprived the bird of a significant food source.^[4] Hoopoe starlings may have contracted diseases from introduced birds, a factor known to have triggered declines and extinctions in endemic Hawaiian birds. According to British ecologist Anthony S. Cheke, this was the chief cause of the hoopoe starling's extinction; the species had survived for generations despite other threats.^[25]

Beginning in the 1830s, Réunion was deforested for plantations. Former slaves joined white peasants in cultivating pristine areas after slavery was abolished in 1848, and the hoopoe starling was pushed to the edges of its former habitat. According to Hume, over-hunting was the final blow to the species; with forests more accessible, hunting by the rapidly growing human population may have driven the remaining birds to extinction. In 1821, a law mandating the extermination of grain-damaging birds was implemented, and the hoopoe starling had a reputation for damaging crops. During the 1860s, various writers noted that the bird had almost disappeared, but it was probably already extinct by this time; in 1877, Vinson lamented that the last individuals might have been killed by recent forest fires. No attempts to preserve the species in captivity seem to have been made.^[4][26]

The hoopoe starling survived longer than many other extinct Mascarene species, and was the last of the Mascarene starling species to face extinction. The Rodrigues and Mauritius species probably disappeared with the arrival of rats; at least five species of

Pacific Islands, with rats contributing to their extinction. The hoopoe starling may have survived longer because of Réunion's rugged topography and highlands, where it spent much of the year.^[15]

References

1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22710840A94263439.en
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2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Hume, J. P. (2014). pp. 8–14.
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4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Hume, J. P. (2014). pp. 29–44.
5. ^
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10. ^ Newton, A. (1875). "Additional evidence as to the original fauna of Rodriguez". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1875: 39–43. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
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15. ^ ^{a b c} Hume, J. P. (2014). pp. 55–58.
16. ^ Amadon, D. (1943). "Genera of starlings and their relationships" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (1247): 1–16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
17. ^ Amadon, D. (1956). "Remarks on the starlings, family Sturnidae" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (1803): 1–41. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
18. ^
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21. ^ Hume, J. P. (2014). pp. 14–29.
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26. ^ Vinson, A. (1877). "Faune détruite. Les Aepiornidés et les Huppes de l'île Bourbon". Bulletin Hebdomadaire de l'Association Scientifique de France (in French). 20: 327–331.

Works cited

• Hume, J. P. (2014). "Systematics, morphology, and ecological history of the Mascarene starlings (Aves: Sturnidae) with the description of a new genus and species from Mauritius" (PDF).
  PMID 25112426
  .

External links

Media related to Fregilupus varius at Wikimedia Commons