The Tasman starling (''Aplonis fusca'') was described in 1836 by
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...
as a species which occurred on both
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...
and
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...
. In 1928 Australian ornithologist
Gregory Mathews
Gregory Macalister Mathews Order of the British Empire, CBE FRSE FZS FLS (10 September 1876 – 27 March 1949) was an Australian-born amateur ornithologist who spent most of his later life in England.
Life
He was born in Biamble, New South Wal ...
recognized that the plumage of the race from Lord Howe Island was much browner and more greyish than the plumage of the Norfolk Island race and split the species into two forms, the Norfolk starling (''Aplonis fusca fusca''), and the Lord Howe starling (''Aplonis fusca hulliana''). Both subspecies are now extinct, thus so the species.
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Norfolk starling
The Norfolk starling (''Aplonis fusca fusca''), was a small bird in the
starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...
family. It is the
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
nominate
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
of the Tasman starling.
Distribution
The Norfolk starling was confined to
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...
, an
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n territory in the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...
between Australia and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
Description
The Norfolk starling was 20 cm long. The wing length was 9.8 cm to 10.3 cm, the length of the tail was 6.3 to 6.8 cm, the length of the culmen 1.3 cm and tarsus was 2.5 cm. It was generally greyish brown. The males were glossy metallic green from head to the throat. The back, the rump, the uppertail coverts, the wing coverts, and underparts were grey, but undertail coverts were whitish. The bill was black and the eyes orange red. The females were coloured similarly but the greenish gloss were slightly duller and a grey throat contrasted with pale brownish flanks. The under breast was washed ochraceous. The abdomen and the undertail coverts were yellowish white.
Extinction
The reasons for its extinction are unclear. Competition from introduced
European starling
The common starling or European starling (''Sturnus vulgaris''), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about long and has glossy black plumage ...
s,
song thrush
The song thrush (''Turdus philomelos'') is a Thrush (bird), thrush that breeds across the West Palearctic. It has brown upper-parts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies. Its distinctive Birdsong, song, ...
es and
common blackbird
The common blackbird (''Turdus merula'') is a species of true thrush. It is also called the Eurasian blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds), or simply the blackbird where this does not ...
s, overhunting and habitat loss through agricultural clearing might have played important roles. Reports in older literature that it was driven to extinction by rats like its relative from Lord Howe Island are incorrect because rats did not become a pest on Norfolk Island until 1940, while the Norfolk starling became extinct in 1923.
Lord Howe starling
The Lord Howe starling (''Aplonis fusca hulliana'') was a small bird in the
starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...
family. It is an extinct
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
of the Tasman starling. It was endemic to
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...
in the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...
, part of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Description
The Lord Howe starling was 18 cm long. The head, the neck, the mantle and the throat were glossy metallic green. The back was slaty grey with a dull greenish gloss. The rump and the underparts were grey. The tail was grey with brownish tips to the feathers. The wings were rich brown. The iris was orange red.
Ecology
The starlings were called "red-eyes" from their eye colour, or "cudgimeruk" from their distinctive calls, by the islanders. They were forest dwellers which lived and foraged in pairs. During the nesting period a clutch of four to five bluish red-blotched eggs were laid in a nest in a
hollow
Hollow may refer to:
Natural phenomena
*Hollow, a low, wooded area, such as a copse
* Hollow (landform), a small vee-shaped, riverine type of valley
*Tree hollow, a void in a branch or trunk, which may provide habitat for animals
Places
* Sleepy ...
in a dead tree or
tree fern
The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ...
.
Extinction
The fate of the Lord Howe starling was sealed in June 1918 when the
SS ''Makambo'' grounded at Ned's Beach, thus allowing
black rat
The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...
s to leave the vessel and overrun the island. Within two years 40% of Lord Howe's endemic bird species were extinct, including the
Lord Howe fantail,
Lord Howe gerygone
The Lord Howe gerygone or Lord Howe gerygone flyeater (''Gerygone insularis'') was a small bird in the family (biology), family Acanthizidae, brown and greyish in color. Its head was brown apart from a pale grey eye-ring and a grey throat and ch ...
, and
robust white-eye
The robust white-eye (''Zosterops strenuus''), also known as the Lord Howe white-eye or robust silvereye and locally as the "big grinnell", is an extinct species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It was Endemism, endemic to the lowland forests ...
. The Lord Howe starling vanished by 1919.
References
Bibliography
*Errol Fuller (2000). "Extinct Birds",
* Day, David - The Doomsday Book of Animals
* Greenway, James C. - Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World
* Luther, Dieter - Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt: Die neue Brehm-Bücherei 424
External links
BirdLife Species Factsheet: Norfolk Starling''Norfolk Island Starling. Aplonis fusca.''by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
Illustration on a stampBirdtheme.org
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120224043739/http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=30 Museum Naturalis - Tasman (Lord Howe Island) Starlingbr>
3D viewof specimens RMNH 110.032, RMNH 110.033 and RMNH 110.035 at
Naturalis
Naturalis Biodiversity Center ( nl, Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit Naturalis) is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021.
Alth ...
, Leiden (requires
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...
browser plugin)
''Norfolk Island Starling. Aplonis fusca.''by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
Birds described in 1836
Aplonis
Bird extinctions since 1500
Extinct birds of Lord Howe Island
Extinct birds of Norfolk Island
{{Sturnidae-stub