Dendrocygna sp. nov. 'Aitutaki'
Polynesian whistling duck
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: cf Dendrocygna undescribed sp (Milberg & Tyrberg, 1993:245); cf. Dendrocygna undescribed species (Tyrberg, 2009:65)
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Holocene
Distribution & Habitat
Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Allen, M. S. and Steadman, David W. (1990). Excavations at the Ureia Site, Aitutaki, Cook Islands: Preliminary Results. Archaeology in Oceania 25(1): 24-37. [Abstract]
Faurby, Søren, Matthews, Tom J., Triantis, Kostas A. and Sayol, Ferran. (2026). Quantifying the unrecorded loss of avian phylogenetic diversity. Ecography 2026: e08267. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecog.08267
Matthews, Thomas J., Triantis, Kostas A., Wayman, Joseph P., Martin, Thomas E., Hume, Julian P., Cardoso, Pedro, Faurby, Søren, Mendenhall, Chase D., Dufour, Paul, Rigal, François, Cooke, Rob, Whittaker, Robert J., Pigot, Alex L., Thébaud, Christophe, Jørgensen, Maria Wagner, Benavides, Eva, Soares, Filipa C., Ulrich, Werner, Kubota, Yasuhiro, Sadler, Jon P., Tobias, Joseph A. and Sayol, Ferran. (2024). The global loss of avian functional and phylogenetic diversity from anthropogenic extinctions. Science 386(6717): 55-60. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk7898 [Supplementary Materials; Dryad dataset; Zenodo codeset]
Matthews, Thomas J., Wayman, Joseph P., Cardoso, Pedro, Sayol, Ferran, Hume, Julian P., Ulrich, Werner, Tobias, Joseph A., Soares, Filipa C., Thébaud, Christophe, Martin, Thomas E. and Triantis, Kostas A. (2022). Threatened and extinct island endemic birds of the world: Distribution, threats and functional diversity. Journal of Biogeography 49(11): 1920-1940. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14474 [Appendix S1 (.docx); Appendix S2 (.pdf)]
Milberg, Per and Tyrberg, Tommy. (1993). Naïve birds and noble savages - a review of man-caused prehistoric extinctions of island birds. Ecography 16: 229-250.
Sayol, Ferran, Steinbauer, Manuel J., Blackburn, Tim M., Antonelli, Alexandre and Faurby, Søren. (2020). Anthropogenic extinctions conceal widespread evolution of flightlessness in birds. Science Advances 6(49): eabb6095. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6095 [Supplementary Material (Data File S1)]
Steadman, David W. (1991). Extinct and extirpated birds from Aitutaki and Atiu, Southern Cook Islands. Pacific Science 45(4): 325-347.
Steadman DW (2006) Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Paci; c Birds. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/7845/dendrocygna-sp-polynesian-whistling-duck