Tag Archives: Napean Island

Hemiphaga spadicea (Latham)

Norfolk Island Pigeon (Hemiphaga spadicea)

The Norfolk Island Pigeon is still often regarded to as a subspecies of the New Zealand Pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae (Gmelin)) but clearly constitutes a distinct species.

The species reached a size of 50 cm and differed from the New Zealand Pigeon mainly by the coloration of its wings, which were grey instead of green.

The Norfolk Island Pigeon was apparently last recorded in 1838 and appears to have been gone just by one year later, the reasons for its extinction are overhunting but also predation by introduced mammals, especially cats.

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Depiction from: ‘Lionel Walter Rothschild: Extinct birds: an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times: that is, within the last six or seven hundred years: to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction. London: Hutchinson & Co. 1907’

(public domain)

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edited: 29.05.2019

Spirancinea napeanensis (Preston)

Napean Island Amber Snail (Spirancinea napeanensis)

This species was described in 1913 based on subfossil shells that were found on the tiny Napean Island offshore the southern coast of Norfolk Island. The shells show a wide variability and thus were originally described as two species, which subsequently were synonymized with each other. 

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The Napean Island form could well be conspecific with the Norfolk Island Amber Snail (Spirancinea norfolkensis (Sykes)) or could be assigned to that species as a subspecies. 

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References:  

[1] Tom Iredale: The Land Mollusca of Norfolk Island. The Australian Zoologist 11: 46-71. 1945-1951  

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Photo from: ‘Tom Iredale: The Land Mollusca of Norfolk Island. The Australian Zoologist 11: 46-71. 1945-1951’  

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

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edited: 29.03.2021

Quintalia stoddartii ssp. intermedia Preston

Intermediate Quintalia Snail (Quintalia stoddartii ssp. intermedia)

This subspecies of Stoddart’s Snail was described in 1913; it was restricted to Napean- and Norfolk Island, Norfolk Islands.

This form is now extinct.

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References:

[1] Tom Iredale: The Land Mollusca of Norfolk Island. The Australian Zoologist 11: 46-71. 1945-1951

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Depiction from: ‘Tom Iredale: The Land Mollusca of Norfolk Island. The Australian Zoologist 11: 46-71. 1945-1951’

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

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edited: 17.08.2022