This species, which has not yet been described, is known from subfossil remains (at least one pronotum) that were collected on the island of Mo’orea, Society Islands.
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The genus Proterhinus occurs on some of the islands in the tropical Pacific, with a strinking radiation of more than 130 species inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands alone.
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References:
[1] Jennifer G. Kahn, Cordelia Nickelsen, Janelle Stevenson, Nick Porch, Emilie Dotte-Sarout, Carl C. Christensen, Lauren May, J. Stephen Athens, Patrick V. Kirch: Mid- to late Holocene landscape change and anthropogenic transformations on Mo’orea, Society Islands: A multi-proxy approach. The Holocene 25(2): 1-15. 2014
The Tahiti Monarch (Monarcha nigra (Sparrman)) is the sole surviving of formerly several monarch species that inhabited the Society Islands; as its name implies, it is endemic to Tahiti, the largest of the islands in the archipelago.
The smaller sister of Tahiti, Mo’orea, very likely once also harbored a monarch population, and this might well have been an endemic one.
This taxon, which has not yet been formally described, is known from subfossil remains (at least one pronotum) found on the island of Mo’orea, Society Islands. [1]
The genus is today known only from the Hawaiian Islands and does only contain a single surviving species.
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References:
[1] Jennifer G. Kahn, Cordelia Nickelsen, Janelle Stevenson, Nick Porch, Emilie Dotte-Sarout, Carl C. Christensen, Lauren May, J. Stephen Athens, Patrick V. Kirch: Mid- to late Holocene landscape change and anthropogenic transformations on Mo‘orea, Society Islands: A multi-proxy approach. The Holocene 1-15. 2014
Moorean Osoriine Rove Beetle (Staphylinidae gen. & sp.)
This species is known from at least a single head capsule that was recovered from deposits on the island of Mo’orea in the Society Islands; it can at least assigned to the subfamily Osoriinae. [1]
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References:
[1] Jennifer G. Kahn, Cordelia Nickelsen, Janelle Stevenson, Nick Porch, Emilie Dotte-Sarout, Carl C. Christensen, Lauren May, J. Stephen Athens, Patrick V. Kirch: Mid- to late Holocene landscape change and anthropogenic transformations on Mo‘orea, Society Islands: A multi-proxy approach. The Holocene 1-15. 2014
Kondo’s Libera Snail was described in 2018; it is known only from subfossil remains that were recovered from at least two areas on the island of Mo’orea in the Society Islands.
The shells are ‘extremely’ large for a member of its family, reaching a size of up to 0.97 cm in diameter.
Kondo’s Libera Snail is quite similar to Jacquinot’s Libera Snail (Libera jacquinoti (Pfeiffer)) in its large size, its overall shape and apertural barriers but can be distinguished from that species by having consistently much finer and more numerous riblets on the apical surface of the shell and by the absence of a strong basal sculpture. [1]
Like so many snail species endemic to Polynesia, also this one is now sadly extinct.
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References:
[1] C. C. Christensen; J. G. Kahn; P. V. Kirch: Nonmarine Mollusks from Archaeological Sites on Mo‘orea, Society Islands, French Polynesia, with Descriptions of Four New Species of Recently Extinct Land Snails (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Endodontidae). Pacific Science 72(1): 95-123. 2018
The Dubious Libera Snail was described in 1889; it inhabited some of the valleys on the eastern- and northern sides of the island of Mo’orea in the Society Islands.
The shells reach sizes of 0.48 to 0.58 cm. [1]
The species was apparently never recorded alive subsequently. [2]
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References:
[1] Alan Solem: Endodontoid land snails from Pacific Islands (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Sigmurethra). Part I, Family Endodontidae. Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, Illinois 1976 [2] C. C. Christensen; J. G. Kahn; P. V. Kirch: Nonmarine Mollusks from Archaeological Sites on Mo‘orea, Society Islands, French Polynesia, with Descriptions of Four New Species of Recently Extinct Land Snails (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Endodontidae). Pacific Science 72(1): 95-123. 2018
Moorean Cossonine Weevil(s) (Curculionidae gen. & sp.)
At least five genera/species assignable to the weevil subfamily Cossoninae are known from subfossil pronota found in deposits on the island of Mo’orea, Society Islands.
These remains belong to species of very different dimensions; the largest of them being almost nine times as large as the smallest.
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References:
[1] Jennifer G. Kahn, Cordelia Nickelsen, Janelle Stevenson, Nick Porch, Emilie Dotte-Sarout, Carl C. Christensen, Lauren May, J. Stephen Athens, Patrick V. Kirch: Mid- to late Holocene landscape change and anthropogenic transformations on Mo‘orea, Society Islands: A multi-proxy approach. The Holocene 1-15. 2014
This species is apparently only known from a subfossil head capsule that was recovered from deposits on the island of Mo’orea in the Society Islands.
The species might have been mainly black in color. [1]
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References:
[1] Jennifer G. Kahn, Cordelia Nickelsen, Janelle Stevenson, Nick Porch, Emilie Dotte-Sarout, Carl C. Christensen, Lauren May, J. Stephen Athens, Patrick V. Kirch: Mid- to late Holocene landscape change and anthropogenic transformations on Mo‘orea, Society Islands: A multi-proxy approach. The Holocene 1-15. 2014
This species is known from a subfossil pronotum that was recovered from deposits on the island of Mo’orea in the Society Islands.
The species apparently was generally black in color. [1]
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References:
[1] Jennifer G. Kahn, Cordelia Nickelsen, Janelle Stevenson, Nick Porch, Emilie Dotte-Sarout, Carl C. Christensen, Lauren May, J. Stephen Athens, Patrick V. Kirch: Mid- to late Holocene landscape change and anthropogenic transformations on Mo‘orea, Society Islands: A multi-proxy approach. The Holocene 25(2): 1-15. 2014
Jacquinot’s Libera Snail was described in 1850; its actual place of origin was not known until 2018, when subfossil shells were recovered from archaeological sites on the island of Mo’orea, Society Islands.
The shells reach sizes of 0.75 to 0.92 cm, making it very large for a member of its family; they ae faint yellowish white, with irregular, zigzag, reddish flammulations above, absent from the base of the shells; the umbilicus is small and strongly constricted by the diagonal inward growth of the last whorls.
Jacquinot’s Libera Snail is now extinct.
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Depiction from: ‘George W. Tryon; Henry A. Pilsbry; a. o.: Manual of Conchology. Second series: Pulmonata. Vol 3: Helicidae – Volume I. 1887’
(public domain)
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References:
[1] Alan Solem: Endodontoid land snails from Pacific Islands (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Sigmurethra). Part I, Family Endodontidae. Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, Illinois 1976 [2] C. C. Christensen; J. G. Kahn; P. V. Kirch: Nonmarine Mollusks from Archaeological Sites on Mo‘orea, Society Islands, French Polynesia, with Descriptions of Four New Species of Recently Extinct Land Snails (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Endodontidae). Pacific Science 72(1): 95-123. 2018
The Small-toothed Mautodontha Snail was described in 1861; this species is known to occur on at least three islands, Huahine, Mo’orea, and Tahiti in the Society Islands.
The shells reach sizes of about 0,28 to 0,39 cm in diameter; they are light yellowish white with broad, protractively sinuate, reddish flammulations which become faint or absent on the base of the shell. [1]
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References:
[1] Alan Solem: Endodontoid land snails from Pacific Islands (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Sigmurethra). Part I, Family Endodontidae. Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, Illinois 1976
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Depiction from: ‘G. W. Tryon; H. A. Pilsbry; a.o.: Manual of Conchology. Second Series: Pulmonata Vol. 3, Helicidae Vol. 1. 1887’
This species was described in 1884; it is, or rather was, endemic to the island of Mo’orea in the Society archipelago.
The shells reach sizes of 0,3 to about 0,36 cm in diameter; they are light yellowish horn-colored with prominent, reddish flammulations which are broader above and are becoming narrower on the body whorl, fading out on the base of the shell. [2]
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References:
[1] Alan Solem: Endodontoid land snails from Pacific Islands (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Sigmurethra). Part I, Family Endodontidae. Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, Illinois 1976
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Depiction from: ‘G. W. Tryon; H. A. Pilsbry; a.o.: Manual of Conchology. Second Series: Pulmonata Vol. 3, Helicidae Vol. 1. 1887’
The Tahiti Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus caffer (Sparrman)) was described in 1786 as Sitta caffra, quasi as a nuthatch coming from southern Africa. This shows how much scientists in the 18th century understood of biogeography, biology, and taxonomy …!
This species is now the sole member of its genus leftover in the Society Islands, but in former times there were at least four distinct forms inhabiting at least four of the islands in the archipelago.
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According to DNA analyses made in 2008, it is now known that the four known reed warbler forms formerly found on the Society Islands are/were not conspecific but evolved from three separate colonization events.
Thus, the Moorea Reed-Warbler, but also the Raiatea Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus musae (J. R. Forster)), are now regarded as full species. [1]
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The Moorea Reed-Warbler was described in 1789 (as a thrush, by the way).
The species reached a size of about 19 cm and was superficially quite similar to the other Society Islands reed-warbler species but differed from them by its conspicuously pale outher tail feathers (unlike in the depiction below).
The last approved record dates from 1981, however there appears to be a recent sighting made sometimes in 1998 or 1999 including a photo that, given the color of the tail feathers, almost certainly depicts this species. It is nevertheless now regarded as most likely extinct.
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References:
[1] Alice Cibois; Jean-Claude Thibault; Eric Pasquet: Systematics of the extinct reed warblers Acrocephalus of the Society Islands of eastern Polynesia. Ibis 150: 365–376. 2008
Drake’s Hernandia is known from the island of Mo’orea in the Society Islands; it was last recorded in 1981 and is considered extinct.
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This may, however, not really be a species but a naturally occurring hybrid between the other two Hernandia spp. that occur on the Society Islands, Hernandia moerenhoutiana Guill. and Hernandia ovigera L..
The species was endemic to the eastern part of Mo’orea, Society Islands, where it inhabited several valleys, including the Faamaariri valley, the Paraoro valley and the Vaipohe valley.
The Golden Tree-Snail was an arboreal species and was often found on the leaves of the epiphytic fara pape (Freycinetia demissa Benn.). [1]
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The species is now extinct, the reasons for its extinction are the same as for the other Polynesian tree-snail species.
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References:
[1] Justin Gerlach: Icons of Evolution: Pacific Island Tree-Snails of the Family Partulidae. Phelsuma Press 2016
