Liverpool Pigeon (Caloenas maculata)
Posted on 31 December, 1928 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1928
Comments:
The one specimen of this poorly-known species may have come from Tahiti, French Polynesia, but this is unclear and it has not been reported there since 1928, when the only possible sightings of the species were made. It is presumed Extinct.
Habitat:
Nothing is known, although given its colouration it is likely to have been a forest dweller.
Causes:
Although purely speculation, it is not unreasonable to assume that hunting for food and perhaps predation by human commensals were responsible for its extinction.
Distribution:
Caloenas maculata is known only from one surviving specimen in World Museum, Liverpool (United Kingdom), and one lost specimen, collected between 1783 and 1823. Accordingly it is not possible to map the former occurrence of the species. The providence of the specimens is unknown, but it seems most likely to have been a Pacific species, given the main area of activity of its collectors. Its short, rounded wings suggest it evolved on a small predator-free island. It was possibly the bird described by the people of Tahiti in 1928 as being speckled green and white (Gibbs 2001). It is likely to have been almost extinct before European exploration of the Pacific began.