Didunculus placopedetes Steadman, 2006a:235
Tongan tooth-billed pigeon
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Quaternary
Distribution & Habitat
Kingdom of Tonga ('Eua, Ha'afeva, Ha'ano, Lifuka, Tongatapu and 'Uiha)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Steadman, David W. (2006a). An extinct species of tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus) from the Kingdom of Tonga, and the concept of endemism in insular landbirds. Journal of Zoology 268(3): 233-241. [Abstract]
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)]
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. (1993). Biogeography of Tongan birds before and after human impact. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 90(3): 818-822. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.90.3.818
Steadman, David W. (1995). Prehistoric Extinctions of Pacific Island Birds: Biodiversity Meets Zooarchaeology. Science 267(5201): 1123-1131.
Steadman, David W. (2006b). Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press. xiv + 594 pp.
Steadman, David W., Pregill, Gregory K. and Burley, David V. (2002). Rapid prehistoric extinction of iguanas and birds in Polynesia. PNAS 99(6): 3673-3677.
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.
Worthy, Trevor H. and Burley, David V. (2019). Prehistoric avifaunas from the Kingdom of Tonga. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zlz110, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz110 [Abstract]