Tag Archives: Ptilinopus mercierii

Ptilinopus mercierii ssp. tristrami (Salvadori)

Hiva Oa Red-mustached Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus mercierii ssp. tristrami)  

The Hiva Oa Red-mustached Fruit-Dove is known only from the island of Hiva Oa, Marquesas, but might indeed have been more widespread in former times.   

This form, which differs from the nominate by the narrow yellow band below its pink head-cap, is known from several specimens and some rather scarce accounts like the following by the American ornithologist Rollo H. Beck in 1921.:

“January 24

I went up onto the plateau and on up to Mt. Ootua several miles to the eastward, and around its base saw several red-capped doves of which three were secured. they were as reported, found near the heads of canyons and usually seen when flying to or from the canyon where the stream of water was flowing. As I stood on the top of the ridge with a brisk breeze sweeping over, one flew back and forth to windward of me several times looking at me. Their call notes did not seem to have the half douen rapid “Coos” at the end of the cooing as does the white-crowned and the Tahitian species. … The red-crown would come to my calling occasionally, but in the thick forest would fly past or light unseen. No white-crowns were seen where the reds were found, but they occurred just below them.” [1]

The white-capped Fruit-Dove (Ptilnopus dupetithouarsii (Neboux) is still found on most of the Marquesan Islands, it is thus somewhat strange that the Rad-capped Fruit-Dove is now extinct. [2]

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References:  

[1] Whitney South Sea Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History. Extracts from the journal of Rollo H. Beck. Vol. 1, Sept 1920 – June 1923
[2] David Gibbs, Eustace Barnes, John Cox: Pigeons and Doves, A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World. Pica Press, Sussex 2001  

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Photo: Alexander Lang

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edited: 16.03.2020

Ptilinopus mercierii ssp. mercierii (Des Murs & Prévost)

Red-mustached Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus mercierii ssp. mercierii)

The Red-mustached Fruit-Dove was endemic to the Marquesas, where it was found sympatrically with the White-capped Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus dupetithouarsii (Neboux)).

Two subspecies are recognized, the nominate form, only known from a single specimen from the island of Nuku Hiva, but probably formerly occurring on all the northern islands of the group; and the ssp. tristrami (Salvadori), known only from Hiva Oa, but again very likely formerly found on all the southern islands.

The species reached a size of about 22 cm, the nominate form had a bright pinkish red cap and malar streak, the rest of the head, the neck and the breast were greyish, the upperparts were green, the belly was bright yellow.

The nominate race died out around 1900, the reasons for the extinction of this species are not really known, above all when the survival of the other Marquesan fruit-dove species, the White-capped Fruit-Dove, is considered, which is still fairly common on most islands in the Marquesan Archipelago. [1][2]

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References:

[1] Errol Fuller: Extinct Birds. Penguin Books (England) 1987 
[2] David Gibbs, Eustace Barnes, John Cox: Pigeons and Doves, A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World. Pica Press, Sussex 2001  

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Depiction from: ‘Charles Lucian Bonaparte: Iconographie des pigeons, non figurés par Mme Knip (Mlle Pauline Decourcelles) dans les deux volumes de MM. Temminck et Florent Prévost. Paris, P. Bertrand 1857-58’  

(public domain)

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edited: 16.03.2020