Thick-billed ground dove

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The thick-billed ground dove (Pampusana salamonis) is an extinct dove species of the family Columbidae.[1]

Thick-billed ground dove

Extinct (2005)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Genus: Pampusana
Species:
P. salamonis
Binomial name
Pampusana salamonis
(Ramsay, 1882)
Synonyms
  • Phlogaenas salamonis Ramsay, 1882
  • Gallicolumba salamonis
  • Alopecoenas salamonis

Description

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This poorly known species is only known from two specimens from 1882 and 1927.[1] The holotype from 1882 can be seen in the Australian Museum in Sydney.[2]

The length was about 26 cm. The head, the throat, and the breast mantle were beige. The chestnut upperparts with a pale purple sheen on the carpals and the small wing coverts contrasted with a chocolate-coloured belly.

The thick-billed ground dove might have preferred dry beach forests on the Solomon Islands of Makira (formerly San Cristobal), and the tiny island of Ramos Island which belongs to Isabel.[1] It is likely that it also occurred on other islands in that region in the past. It was a ground-dweller like its congeners, and so it was an easy prey for introduced rats and feral pigs, cats and dogs.[1][3] The logging of the lowland forests in its habitat and the hunting sealed its fate.[1]

Despite the fact that it was last seen in 1927, the IUCN has long hesitated to declare this species extinct.[4] Many surveys in its former range were undertaken in the later part of the 20th century, but when the last search for this species on Ramos in 2004 had failed too it was officially declared extinct in 2005.[1][5] It probably became extinct in the mid-20th century following the increased activity around the time of World War II, which affected several populations of endemic birds in the region.[citation needed] Further surveys of birds on Makira in 2015-2016 did not find evidence of the thick-billed ground dove.[6]

This species was formerly in the genus Alopecoenas Sharpe, 1899, but the name of the genus was changed in 2019 to Pampusana Bonaparte, 1855 as this name has priority.[7][8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g BirdLife International (2023). "Pampusana salamonis". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2023. IUCN: e.T22691056A228004766. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T22691056A228004766.en. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  2. ^ Boles, Walter (12 October 2018). "Bird Illustrators". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 2021-09-18.
  3. ^ Bird conservation priorities and a draft avifauna conservation strategy for the Pacific Islands region. Greg Sherley, South Pacific Regional Environment Programme. Samoa: South Pacific Regional Environment Program. 2001. ISBN 982-04-0221-2. OCLC 48552691.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ Diamond, Jared M. (1987). "Extant Unless Proven Extinct? Or, Extinct Unless Proven Extant?". Conservation Biology. 1 (1): 77–79. Bibcode:1987ConBi...1...77D. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.1987.tb00012.x. ISSN 0888-8892. JSTOR 2386130.
  5. ^ Dutson, Guy (17 December 2002). "Is the Thick-billed Ground-Dove Gallicolumba salamonis extant?". Ibis. 145 (1): 173–177. doi:10.1046/j.1474-919X.2003.00137.x.
  6. ^ Mittermeier, John C.; Dutson, Guy; James, Roger E.; Davies, Tammy E.; Tako, Reuben; Uy, J. Albert C. (2018). "The avifauna of Makira (San Cristobal), Solomon Islands". The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 130 (1): 235–255. doi:10.1676/16-194.1. ISSN 1559-4491. S2CID 52257021.
  7. ^ Bruce, M.; Bahr, N.; David, N. (2016). "Pampusanna vs. Pampusana: a nomenclatural conundrum resolved, along with associated errors and oversights" (PDF). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 136: 86–100.
  8. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Pigeons". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  • Ramsay, Edward Pierson (1882): Description of two new birds from the Solomon Islands. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 7: 299-301
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