Cosmoledo is an atoll in the Aldabra group of the outer islands of the Seychelles archipelago; it has a very small area of dry land yet is home to at least four species of land birds, the Souimanga Sunbird (Cinnyris sovimanga ssp. buchenorum Williams), the Malagasy Turtle-Dove (Nesoenas picturatus ssp. coppingeri (Sharpe)), the Malagasy White-eye (Zosterops maderaspatanus ssp. menaiensis (Benson)) and a rail that is only known from a single contemporary report.:

“A rail (Dryolimnas abbotti?) still exists on South Island, and a Cinnyris perhaps forms a local race, but land birds were scarce on Cosmoledo, which as a whole seemed too broken into small islands to be suitable for a land fauna.” [1]

The three volant bird species are surviving until today but the rail is now gone.

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References:

[1] J. C. F. Fryer: The structure and formation of Aldabra and neighbouring islands – with notes on their flora and fauna. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2nd series. Zoology 14(3): 397-442. 1911

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edited: 03.01.2023