White-winged Sandpiper
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| Prosobonia ellisi Sharpe, 1906 |
The White-winged Sandpiper, Prosobonia ellisi, is an extinct member of the large wader family Scolopacidae that was endemic to the Moorea in French Polynesia, where the locals called it te-te in the Tahitian language.
Two specimens were collected by William Anderson between September 30 and October 11, 1777, during Captain Cook’s third voyage, but both have since disappeared and the bird became extinct in the nineteenth century. The only hint at its former existence are Anderson's notes and the descriptions based of them, a painting by William Ellis (linked below) and a plate by J. Webber which apparently depicts the other specimen.
These show a somewhat lighter brown bird than the Tahiti specimen, with no white spot behind the eye, a more conspicuous light rusty eye-ring, two white wing-bars and rusty secondary and primary coverts; one of Latham's specimens had yellow legs and feet. The exact relationships between the Moorea bird and the Tahitian Sandpiper are still not fully resolved. See the latter species' article for more on this topic.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Prosobonia ellisi. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 Sep 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is extinct.
- Greenway, James C. (1967): Tahitian Sandpiper. In: Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World (2nd ed.): 263-264. Dover Publications, New York.
- Latham, John (1785): [White-winged Sandpiper]: In: A general synopsis of birds 3: 172, plate 82. London.
- Latham, John (1824): [White-winged Sandpiper]: In: A general history of birds 9: 296.
- Sharpe, Robert Bowdler (1906): [Description of Prosobonia ellisi]. Bull. B.O.C. 16: 86
- Stresemann, Erwin (1950). Birds collected during Capt. James Cook's last expedition (1776-1780). Auk 67(1): 66-88. PDF fulltext
- Walters, Michael (1991): Prosobonia ellisi, an extinct species of sandpiper from Moorea, Society Islands. Bollettino di Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali Torino 9: 217-226
[edit] External links
- BirdLife Species Factsheet. Retrieved 11-SEP-2006.
- Natural History Museum: William Ellis' plate 65. Retrieved 11-SEP-2006.
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