Eiao Monarch (Pomarea fluxa)
Posted on 31 December, 1977 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1977
Comments:
This species was endemic to the island of Eiao, French Polynesia, but is now Extinct, probably due to predation by introduced predators. It was last recorded in 1977, and subsequent searches have failed to find it.
Habitat:
It inhabited lowland dry forest.
Causes:
Introduced predators including feral cats, Polynesian Rat Rattus exulans and possibly Black Rat R. rattus were present on the island at the time of the species' demise, and may have contributed to declines. The introduction of Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Lonchura castaneothorax coincided with its extinction on the island, implying that an avian disease may have been transmitted to this population (Thibault 1989). Native low-elevation dry forest has drastically decreased due to intense grazing by sheep introduced c.1880 (Holyoak and Thibault 1984, Thibault and Meyer 2001), and this may have been an additional factor.
Distribution:
Pomarea fluxa was endemic to the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, where it was restricted to the small, uninhabited island of Eiao. Despite a number of searches in 1987 and since (Thibault and Meyer 2001), it has not been seen since 1977, and is considered to be extinct (Thibault 1989, Cibois et al. 2004).