The Lesser Guam Flying Fox was found exclusively on the island of Guam, Marianna Islands; it shared its habitat with another flying fox species, the Larger Marianas Flying Fox (Pteropus mariannus Desmarest), which survives to this day.
The locals of the island considered both species, which they both called fanihi, as a delicacy and therefore hunted them in large numbers, which ultimately became fatal to the smaller of the two species.
The last two specimens were seen in 1967 or 1968, a female and a juvenile, the female was shot, the juvenile escaped.
All that remains of this species are two specimens (see photo).
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The Lesser Guam Flying Fox was most closely related to the Chuuk Flying Fox (Pteropus pelagicus Kittlitz), which is common on some atolls and islands of the Chuuk Archipelago in Micronesia.
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Photo from: ‘Donald W. Buden; Kristofer M. Helgen; Gary J. Wiles: Taxonomy, distribution, and natural history of flying foxes (Chiroptera, Pteropodidae) in the Mortlock Islands and Chuuk State, Caroline Islands. ZooKeys 345: 97–135. 2013. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.345.5840’
The Guam Rufous Fantail is one of the victims of the Brown Tree Snake (Boiga irregularis (Merrem in Bechstein)), a snake species that was introduced to Guam probably sometimes during the 1940s resulting in the devastating loss of nearly all native bird species.
Like so many other bird species from guam, this one was last seen during the 1985s, it is now extinct.
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The Rufous Fantail (Rhipidura rufifrons (Latham)), if treated as a single species, occurs from eastern Australia to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and parts of Micronesia; however, this species is a candidate for splitting, which would lead to the Guam Rufous Fantail being treated as a distinct, monotypic species, while the other two remaining subspecies found in the Mariana Islands today (the one from Saipan Island is depicted below) would be regarded to as another, closely related one.
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The name that the Chamorro, the native inhabitans of the Mariana Islands, gave this bird is Chichirika, this name is now apparently used for the Eurasian Tree Sparow (Passer montanus (L.)), a species that was imported to the Mariana Islands.
The Guam Amber Snail was described in 1857, it is thought to be endemic to the island of Guam, Mariana Islands.
The species appears to be extinct now.
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According to another source this species is said to also inhabit Koror, Palau Islands as well as the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia, the specimens collected from there, however, are somewhat smaller that those from Guam. [1]
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References:
[1] O. F. von Moellendorff: The land shells of the Caroline Islands. Journal of Malacology 7: 101-126. 1900
This form is known from subfossil bones that were excavated from the deposits of the Ritidian Cave on the island of Guam, Mariana Islands. [1]
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The assignment of these bones to the genus Vini is debatable, they may well belong to a distinct genus.
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References:
[1] Gregory K. Pregill; David W. Steadman: The prehistory and biogeography of terrestrial vertebrates on Guam, Mariana Islands. Diversity and Distributions 15(6): 983–996. 2009
The Guam Sailor was described in 1916 and was not seen since, however, the origin of the type material seems to be questionable.
“The type locality seems hihly improbable and the author’s brief description might apply to several of the Malaysian subspecies. None in BMHN.” [1]
The species may have been identical with the Common Sailor (Neptis hylas (L.)) (see photo) respectively one of its several subspecies.
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References:
[1] J. N. Elliot: An analysis of the Eurasian and Australian Neptini (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology Supplement 15: 1-155. 1969
The Nightingale Reed Warbler was an endemic species of Guam, where it was called Ga’kaliso, or Ga’karriso in Chamorro, the language of the native inhabitants. The species reached a size of about 17 cm.
The Nightingale Reed Warbler inhabited dense reed thickets in freshwater- and brackish marshlands, which, during the 20th century, were largely drained. Hence the reasons for the extinction of this species lie mainly in the extensive destruction of its habitat. The unintentional introduction of the Brown Tree Snake (Boiga irregularis (Merrem)), which has led to the extinction of nearly all of Guam’s native bird species, plays a minor role here.
The last individuals were seen in the year 1969.
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The island of Alamagan in the north of the Mariana Archipelago is still harboring a smaller population of reed warblers (about 300 birds), which hitherto have been assigned without any reservation to this species (resp. formerly subspecies), which, however, in a biogeographical sense must be considered completely impossible (hereto see map). The birds from the island of Alamagan are either most closely related to the species from Alamagan’s neighbor island, Pagan, the Pagan Nightingale Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus yamashinaeTakatsukasa), or even represent a distinct species.
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The reed warbler populations of all other islands in the Mariana island chain were until recently treated as subspecies of this species, but are now considered as distinct species.
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References:
[1] H. Douglas Pratt, Phillip L. Bruner, Delwyn G. Berrett: A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press 1987 [2] James D. Reichel; Gary J. Wiles; Phil O. Glass: Island extinctions: the case of the endangered Nightingale Reed-Warbler. Wilson Bull. 104(1): 44-54. 1992 [3] David Pearson; Peter Kennerly: Reed and Bush Warblers. Christopher Helm 2009 [4] Alice Cibois; Jon S. Beadell; Gary R. Graves; Eric Pasquet; Beth Slikas; Sarah A. Sonsthagen; Jean-Claude Thibault; Robert C. Fleischer: Charting the course of reed-warblers across the Pacific islands. Journal of Biogeography 38(10): 1963-1975. 2011
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reed warbler species of the Marianas known from specimens
The Mariana Wandering Butterfly was restricted to the islands of Guam and Rota in the southern part of the Mariana Islands chain.
The butterfly inhabited the forests on the lime cliffs wherever Luluhut (Maytenus thompsonii (Merr.) Fosberg), the food plant of its caterpillars was found. [1]
The local name of this butterfly is Ababbang (in Chamorro), bzw. Libwueibogh (in Carolinian).
The species was last seen on Guam in 1979 and is considered as being extinct at least there, the last record of the species on the neighboring island of Rota took place in 1995, when only some male specimens were found but no female ones nor any eggs or caterpillars.
The Mariana Wandering Butterfly is now most likely globally extinct.
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References:
[1] Ilse Schreiner; Donald Nafus: Survey of rare butterflies in the Mariana Islands. Preliminary report to USFWS. 1-10. 1995
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Depiction from: ‘M. Louis de Freycinet: Voyage autour du monde: fait par ordre du Roi, sur les corvettes de S. M. l’Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820. Paris: Chez Pillet aìné 1824-1844’
