Kosrae Crake (Zapornia monasa)
Posted on 31 December, 1827 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1827-1828
Comments:
This species was known from the island of Kosrae in Micronesia. The only records come from 1827-1828 and it is thought to have been driven Extinct by introduced predators in the subsequent 50 years.
Habitat:
It inhabited coastal swamps and marshes, taro patches and "continually wet, shadowy places in the forest" (Taylor 1998). Measurements of the carpometacarpii from x-rays of the two specimens suggest that the species was flightless (Steadman 1986).
Causes:
Its extinction quickly followed the arrival of rats from missionary and whaling ships in the 1830s and 1840s (Taylor 1998).
Distribution:
Zapornia monasa was endemic to Kosrae, Caroline Islands, Federated States of Micronesia. Heinrich von Kittlitz collected the only two known specimens (now in St Petersburg, Russia) in 1827-1828, and regarded the species as uncommon even then (Taylor 1998). It declined to extinction over the next half-century.