| Polynesian sandpiper | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prosobonia leucoptera | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Subfamily: | Arenariinae |
| Genus: | Prosobonia Bonaparte, 1850 |
| Type species | |
| Tringa leucoptera (Tahiti sandpiper) JF Gmelin, 1789 | |
| Species | |
See text. | |
| Synonyms | |
AechmorhynchusCoues, 1874 | |
ThePolynesian sandpipers form the genusProsobonia. They are smallwadingbirds confined to remotePacific islands ofFrench Polynesia. Only one species is now extant, and it is rare and little known. This bird is sometimes separated in the genusAechmorhynchus, restricting the genus to the extinct southern forms.
The genusProsobonia was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalistCharles Lucien Bonaparte with theTahiti sandpiper, as thetype species.[1][2] Bonaparte did not explain the etymology of the genus name but it is probably from theAncient Greekprosōpon meaning "mask" or "face".[3]
TheInternational Ornithologists' Union lists four species in the genus. Of these three have become extinct in historical times.[4]
An additional species was described in 2020 fromsubfossil remains.[5]
Indeterminate species are also known from theMarquesas and theCook Islands.[5]
TheTuamotu sandpiper,P. parvirostris, is a unique short-billed all-brown wader previously found over a large area of the Pacific, but now confined to a few islands in theTuamotu archipelago and still declining. Its decline appears to be due to human habitation encroachment and introduced mammals. It feeds on insects, but takes some vegetable material from its coastal haunts. It nests on the ground, and has a soft piping call.
The extinctTahiti sandpiper,P. leucoptera ofTahiti was similar in size and shape toP. cancellata. It had brown upperparts, reddish underparts, a white wingbar, and some white on the face and throat. It became extinct in the 19th century, and little is known of it.
There was a similar bird onMoorea which differed in some minor details fromP. leucoptera, notably the larger extent of white in the wing, and has been described as theMoorea sandpiper (P. ellisi). However, although two species are generally listed, the question whether they actually did constitute separate species is probably unresolvable as only a single specimen of it exists today, apart from some contemporary paintings.
FromMangaia in theCook Islands,Ua Huka in theMarquesas, and the remote South PacificHenderson Island[6]subfossil remains ofProsobonia have been recovered but not yet named. The first of these was almost certainly more closely related to the Tahiti and Moorea populations than to the Tuamotu sandpiper, but the exact nature of their relationship is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. It disappeared in the early-mid 1st millennium AD, probably not long after 300 AD.
The Ua Huka and Henderson forms can be assumed to have been closer to the living species. The latter, a distinct species with long legs and short wings,[7] became extinct only about 1000 years after the Mangaia form, some time after 1200.
In 2020 a new extinct species,Prosobonia sauli, was described from specimens found onHenderson Island, part of thePitcairn Islands. A genetic analysis found that the genus was sister to the clade containingArenaria andCalidris.[5]
Genera ofshorebirds and their extinct allies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
_svg-element.svg)
