Porphyrio albus Shaw, Smith & Hunter, 1790:235
Lord Howe Island swamphen, Lord Howe swamphen, White swamphen, White gallinule, Lord Howe gallinule
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Porphyrio albus White, 1790:235 (incorrect attribution); Porphyrio albus Shaw, 1790:235 (incorrect attribution); Porphyrio porphyrio albus White, 1790; Porphyrio stanleyi Rowley, 1875; Notornis alba Shaw, Smith & Hunter, 1790:235; Fulica alba White, 1790:235; Porphyrio raperi Mathews, 1928; Notornis stanleyi Rowley, 1875:37; Porphyrio stanleyi Rowley, 1875:37
The authorship of Porphyrio albus is usually attributed solely to White or solely to Shaw, however according to ICZN rules the correct author attribution is "Shaw, Smith & Hunter, 1790" (McAllan & Bruce, 1989:27).
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: May 1788 (McAllan et al., 2004:38); 1790 (BirdLife International, 2012); 1812 (Kittelberger et al., 2024); c.1844 (Hume & Walters, 2012:114)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution
Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Two skins, one in Vienna and the other in Liverpool (E. S. Hill, quoted in Paramonov, 1960:75; Greenway, 1967:245; Taylor & van Perlo 1998). There are also two paintings, by Thomas Watling and George Raper from 1788 and 1790, respectively (Day, 1981:86).
Media
Above: illustration from Mathews (1928).
References
Original scientific description:
White, John. (1790). Journal of a voyage to New South Wales with sixty-five plates of non descript animals, birds, lizards, serpents, curious cones of trees and other natural productions. London: J. Debrett.
Other references:
BirdLife International. (2012). Porphyrio albus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 25 November 2012.
BirdLife International. 2016. Porphyrio albus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22692801A93370193. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692801A93370193.en. Accessed on 02 July 2022.
Brooks, T. 2000. Extinct species. In: BirdLife International (ed.), Threatened Birds of the World, pp. 701-708. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona and Cambridge, U.K.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Day, David. (1981). The Doomsday Book of Animals: A Natural History of Vanished Species. New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press.
Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW). (2007). Lord Howe Island Biodiversity Management Plan Appendices. Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW), Sydney. vii + 267 pp.
Etheridge, R. (1889). The general zoology of Lord Howe Island; containing also an account of the collections made by the Australian Museum Collecting Party, Aug.–Sept., 1887. Australian Museum Memoir 2(1): 1-42, plates iv–v.
Forbes, H. O. (1901). Note on Lord Stanley's Water Hen. Bulletin of Liverpool Museum 3(2): 62-68.
Fuller, Errol. (1988). Extinct Birds. New York: Facts on File Publications. 256 pp.
Juan C. Garcia-R. and Steve A. Trewick. (2015). Dispersal and speciation in purple swamphens (Rallidae: Porphyrio). The Auk 132(1): 140-155.
Garnett, Stephen (ed.). (1992). Threatened and Extinct Birds of Australia. RAOU Report Number 82. 212 pp.
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Greenway James C. (1967). Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World. American Committee for International Wild Life Protection, Special Publication no 13, 2nd edn. Dover Publications, New York.
Hill, Edward S. (1870). Lord Howe Island. Official visit by the Water Police Magistrate and the Director of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney; together with a description of the island. In: New South Wales Parliamentary Papers (Votes and Proceedings) 1: 635-654.
Hindwood, K. A. (1932). An historic diary: The journal of the voyage of the Lady Penrhyn 1787-89. Emu 32: 17-29.
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del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
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Hutton, Ian. (1991). Birds of Lord Howe Island: Past and Present. Coffs Harbour Plaza, N.S.W.: Self Published. 154 pp.
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Marchant, S. and Higgins, P. J. (1993). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds, 2: raptors to lapwings. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
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http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/action/birds2000/pubs/white-gallinule.pdf