Tag Archives: Zosteropidae gen. & sp.

Zosteropidae gen. & sp. ”Eua’

Large Eua White-eye (Zosteropidae gen. & sp.)  

The subfossil remains of this bird were found on the Tongan island of ‘Eua, it can be assigned to the white-eye family (Zosteropidae), however, not at least because of its large size, it cannot be assigned to any genus.  

The form has currently no scientific name. [1][2][3]  

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The neighboring island of Tongatapu harbored another similar form, also known exclusively from subfossil bone material, which may be identical with the form from the island of ‘Eua. [3]  

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References:  

[1] David W. Steadman: Biogeography of Tongan birds before and after human impact. Proc. Natl. Acad, Sci. USA 90: 818-822. 1993 
[2] D. W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006 
[3] S. T. Turvey: Holocene Extinctions. Oxford University Press, USA 2009

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edited: 17.09.2020

Zosteropidae gen. & sp. ‘Tongatapu’

Large Tongatapu White-eye (Zosteropidae gen. & sp.)

This enigmatic species is mentioned in a list which is included in S. T. Turvey’s ‘Holocene Extinctions’ from 2009, it is supposed to come from the island of Tongatapu, Tongan Islands.

I could not yet find out any more about it, but the author might as well just have mixed up the islands here and probably did actually mean the large white-eye form that is known from subfossil remains found on the island of ‘Eua, the neigbor island of Tongatapu. 

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References:

[1] S. T. Turvey: Holocene Extinctions. Oxford University Press, USA 2009

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edited: 17.05.2019