Tahiti sandpiper

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Tahiti sandpiper
Forster's drawing

Extinct (1819)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Prosobonia
Species:
†P. leucoptera
Binomial name
†Prosobonia leucoptera
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Synonyms

Tringa leucoptera Gmelin, 1789

360 degrees image of specimen RMNH.AVES.87556, Prosobonia leucoptera (Gmelin, 1789) from the collection of Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

The Tahiti Sandpiper or Tahitian Sandpiper (Prosobonia leucoptera) is an

endemic to Tahiti in French Polynesia until its extinction sometime before 1819.[2]

It was discovered in 1773 during

Aves collection of Naturalis Biodiversity Center. The bird's name in the Tahitian language
was transcribed as toromē.

Taxonomy

The Tahiti sandpiper was

Prosobonia that was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte with the Tahiti sandpiper as the type species.[5][6] Bonaparte did not explain the etymology of the genus name, but it is likely from the Ancient Greek prosōpon meaning "mask" or "face". The specific epithet leucoptera is derived from Ancient Greek leukopteros meaning "white-winged".[7]

Description

Restoration by Keulemans

Based on Zusi & Jehl (1970):

rectrices
. Central tail feathers sooty brown with rusty tips; outer ones rusty with sooty brown barring.

Bill blackish, lower mandible slightly paler, pointed, thin and short, rather like in an insectivorous passerine than a wader. Legs greenish-hued pale straw color. Toes unwebbed. A slim pale rusty ring around the eye. Iris a very dark brown.

Two probable specimens taken on

RMNH 87556, cannot be positively identified with any of them. How it came into the possession of the museum cannot be retraced with complete certainty, but it probably was acquired in 1819 with other specimens from Georg Forster.[2]
There also exists a painting by Forster, drawn from the original specimen.

At any rate, the specimen agrees better with the Tahiti bird in Forster's painting. The Moorea Sandpiper—of which another painting, by William Ellis, and a plate by John Webber, supposed to depict the other specimen, constitute all remaining evidence—differs in the color of wings and head. Whether these two forms were species, subspecies, or simply variants due to age or sex cannot be determined with certainty, but for the present they are more often treated as different species than not. The Tahiti and Moorea Sandpipers are believed to have occurred near small streams.

Bones of a related form have been found on Mangaia in the Cook Islands. It is not likely that they will be studied anytime soon; a scientific description would require either successful extraction and analysis of DNA from both the bones and the Leiden specimen (which would risk being damaged during extraction of the tissue sample), or the collection of a sufficient amount of material from Tahiti or Moorea to determine the Mangaia bird's affiliation by analysis of the osteology.

References

Illustration by John Latham
  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22693330A93396439.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^
    JSTOR 4080770
    .
  3. ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 678.
  4. ^ Latham, John (1785). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 3, Part 1. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 172, No. 14; Plate 82.
  5. ^ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1850). "Note sur plusieurs familles naturelles d'oiseaux, et descriptions d'espèces nouvelles". Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences (in French). 31: 561–564 [562].
  6. Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2022). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers"
    . IOC World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  7. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4
    .
  8. JSTOR 4083710
    .

Further reading

External links
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