Hoopoe Starling
| Hoopoe Starling | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Painting by E. de Maes | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Sturnidae |
| Genus: | Fregilupus Lesson, 1831 |
| Species: | F. varius |
| Binomial name | |
| Fregilupus varius (Boddaert, 1783) | |
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| Former range (encircled) | |
The Hoopoe Starling (Fregilupus varius), also known as Bourbon Crested Starling, Huppe, Crested Starling, or Réunion Starling is an extinct bird from the family of Sturnidae.
Taxonomy
The Hoopoe Starling was discovered in 1669 and first described 1783 by Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert. It got its name from its conspicuous ash grey crest. Because of its crest and the form of its bill it was long regarded as relative of the hoopoes by scientists, and its French name Huppe was derived from that. Boddaert named it Hupupa varia when he first described it but naturalist René-Primevère Lesson put it in its own genus Fregilupus in 1831. However, after careful analysis of the skeletons it was reclassified as a member of the starling family in 1874.
Fregilupus varius seems to have some synapomorphies with the more advanced Passerida – Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea. Its tenth (outermost) primary remex is quite reduced for example. This feature is characteristically found in Passerida, but varies in extent, with the basal lineages have little reduction in length, and many nine-primaried oscines of the Passeroidea having lost that feather altogether. The pattern of scales on its feet also indicates a position among the Passerida at least. But these traits cannot be known for the Rodrigues bird of course. However, as F. varius, Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea have an apparently apomorphic divided fossa tricipitalis of the proximal humerus head. This serves as attachment point for the triceps brachii muscle. In basal Passeri as well as Sylvioidea (which are basal Passerida), there is only one fossa or at most a small second one. In Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea, there always seems to be a second fossa of some size present dorsal of the first. The humerus of Necropsar was said to "differ nowise"[2] from that of Fregilupus or advanced starlings, and in the drawings of the fossils, the double fossa is visible. Judging from the anatomical studies, F. varius – and presumably also N. rodericanus – were probably not basal Passeri and quite likely belonged to the Muscicapoidea, and may indeed have been true starlings.[3][4][5]
Description
It reached a size of 30 cm. in length. The wings, which were coloured grey-brown, had wingspan of 47 cm. The tail was 11.4 cm long and had a rufous hue. It had long yellow legs with tarsi of about 3.9 cm. The nails were curved. The head, neck, and abdomen were white. There was sexual dimorphism between male and female. The male had a 4 cm long light-yellow coloured bill which was slightly downcurved. The bill of the female was smaller and straight. The crest of the male was directed forwards, the crest of the female backwards. A note by Dubois from 1674 describes it as follows:
Hoopoes or 'Callendres', having a white tuft on the head, the rest of the plumage white and grey, the bill and the feet like a bird of prey; they are a little larger than the young pigeons; this is another good game (i.e., to eat) when it is fat.
Habitat
The Hoopoe Starling was endemic to the Island of La Réunion (which was named Bourbon until the 1790s); therefore the previous name "Bourbon" describes the place that species lived rather than the color of its crest.
Its habitat consisted of moistly swamp forests and mountainous coastal forests. Its diet consisted of insects, grain, and fruits. Nothing is known about its reproduction—courtship, nesting habits, clutch size, incubation period, and so on.
Extinction
The decline of the Hoopoe Starling is recorded in the letters by 19th naturalists. François Pollen wrote in 1868:
This species has become so rare that one did not hear them mentioned for a dozen years. It has been destroyed in all the littoral districts, and even in the mountains near the coast. Trustworthy persons, however, have assured us that they must still exist in the forests of the interior, near St. Joseph. The old Creoles told me that, in their youth, these birds were still common, and that they were so stupid that one could kill them with sticks. They call this bird the "Hoopoe." It is, therefore, not wrong what a distinguished inhabitant of Reunion, Mr. A. Legras, wrote about this bird with the following words: "The Hoopoe has become so rare that we have hardly seen a dozen in our wanderings to discover birds; we were even grieved to search for it in vain in our museum.[6]
The main reason for its extinction was the introduction of rats, but the introduction of the Common Myna for the purpose of combating locusts also caused a dramatic drop in the population. Human hunters then sealed its fate. Because it fed on coffee berries, and was apparently also tasty, this easy-to-hunt bird became increasingly rare during the 1830s. The last known specimen was shot in 1837.
From 1848 on, the deforestation and forest fires that followed the emancipation of the slave population resulted in severe degradation of the areas where remnant populations might have survived. Sightings of the Bourbon Crested Starling were reported as late as 1868, but none were confirmed.
As of 2006, there are 19 specimens preserved in museums (e.g. Italy, Netherlands, La Réunion, and at the American Museum of Natural History)
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Fregilupus varius". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ↑ Günther, Albert & Alfred Newton (1879). "The extinct birds of Rodriguez". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 168: 423–437 (428). doi:10.1098/rstl.1879.0043. JSTOR 109257.
- ↑ Olson, Storrs L., Robert C. Fleischer, Clemency T. Fisher & Eldredge Bermingham (2005). "Expunging the 'Mascarene starling' Necropsar leguati: archives, morphology and molecules topple a myth" (PDF). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 125 (1): 31–42.
- ↑ Berger, Andrew J. (1957). "On the anatomy and relationships of Fregilupus varius, an extinct starling from the Mascarene Islands" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 113: 225–272.
- ↑ Amadon, Dean (1947). "Genera of starlings and their relationships" (PDF). American Museum Novitates 1247: 1–16 (10).
- ↑ Rothschild, Walter (1907). Extinct Birds. London: Hutchinson & Co.
Further reading
- Errol Fuller (2000). "Extinct Birds", ISBN 0-8160-1833-2
- Flannery, Tim & Schouten, Peter (2001). A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals, Atlantic Monthly Press, New York. ISBN 0-87113-797-6.
- David Day (1981). "The Doomsday Book of Animals", Ebury Press, London, ISBN 0-670-27987-0
External links
- The Auk – Myology of Fregilupus varius in relation to its systematic position (engl.)
- 300 Pearls – Information on the website of the Museum for Natural History in Amsterdam (engl.)
- American Museum of Natural History – On the anatomy and relationships of Fregilupus varius, an extinct starling from the Mascarene Islands. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 113, article 3 Article by Andrew John Berger
- 3D view of specimen RMNH 110.050 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).