Tag Archives: Aplonis pelzelni

Aplonis pelzelni Finsch

Pohnpei Starling (Aplonis pelzelni)

The Pohnpei Starling was restricted to the mountainous areas in the interior of Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia.

The species reaches a length of 19 cm, it is mainly inconspicuously dark greyish brown colored.

The Pohnpei Starling was last recorded in 1956 and was finally declared extinct in 1990, however, five years later a single female specimen was obtained by a native hunter and thus the species was deemed as having been rediscovered, the species was apparently subsequently found again in 2008, but since then there has not been any trace of it and it is now thought to be extinct. 

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Photo: Huub Veldhuijzen van Zanten; Naturalis Biodiversity Center  

(under creative commons license (3.0)) 
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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edited: 30.04.2021