Bountyphaps obsoleta Worthy & Wragg, 2008:502
Henderson Island archaic pigeon, Henderson archaic pigeon (Wragg & Weisler, 1994:61)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: "Henderson archaic pigeon (Columbidae new genus)" (Wragg & Weisler, 1994:61); Henderson archaic pigeon (Columbidae n.g.) Wragg, 1995:407
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 1050 AD or later (Worthy & Wragg, 2008)
The existence of a new genus of pigeons from Henderson Island, Pitcairn group was first reported by (Wragg & Weisler, 1994:64; Wragg, 1995:407) before finally being described by (Worthy & Wragg, 2008).
Distribution & Habitat
Henderson Island, Pitcairn Group
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Holotype: NMNZ S.44246 ("R coracoid, near complete, but part of the mid-shaft region ventrally, the tip of the proc. lateralis (lateral angle), and the extreme tip of the procoracoid are lost.")
Type locality: "Henderson Island, site 5, test pit 10, spit 6"
Paratypes:
NMNZ S.44256,
NMNZ S.44247
NMNZ S.44244
NMNZ S.44259
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Worthy, Trevor H. and Wragg, Graham M. (2008). A new genus and species of pigeon (Aves: Columbidae) from Henderson Island, Pitcairn Group. Terra Australis 29: 499-510.
Other references:
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
Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser. 544 pp.
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)]
Parish, Jolyon C. (2025). The phylogenetic relationships of the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) and the Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) within Columbidae (Aves: Columbiformes), including other large extinct taxa, based on morphological data. Historical Biology. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2025.2473546
Rigal, Stanislas, Kirch, Patrick V. and Worthy, Trevor H. (2018). New prehistoric avifaunas from the Gambier Group, French Polynesia. Palaeontologia Electronica 21.3.43.
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. and Olson, Storrs L. (1985). Bird remains from an archaeological site on Henderson Island, South Pacific: man-caused extinctions on an 'uninhabited' island. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 82: 6192-6195.
Tyrberg, Tommy. (2009). Holocene avian extinctions, pp. 63-106. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK & New York, USA: Oxford University Press. xii + 352 pp.
Wragg, Graham M. (1995). The fossil birds of Henderson Island, Pitcairn Group: natural turnover and human impact, a synopsis. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 56: 405-414.
Wragg, G. M. and Weisler, M. I. (1994). Extinctions and new records of birds from Henderson Island, Pitcairn group, south Pacific Ocean. Notornis 41(1): 61-70.
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