Critically Endangered
Alopecoenas erythropterus
Pampusana erythroptera
Alopecoenas erythropterus is a pigeon in the family Columbidae (order Columbiformes) — Pampusana erythroptera, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
The male Polynesian ground doves of the nominate subspecies have white foreheads, cheeks, throats, and breasts. The crown, nape, and auricular stripe are grey. The upperparts are a dark olive grey with purple or, if the feathers have faded, chestnut red iridescence on the hindneck and wing-coverts.
The adult Polynesian ground dove is about 23.5 to 26 cm (9.3 to 10.2 in) in length, and weighs about 105 to 122 g (3.7 to 4.3 oz).
Gmelin based his description on the "Garnet-winged pigeon" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham from a preserved specimen provided by Joseph Banks, that had been collected on the island of Moorea near Tahiti in French Polynesia.
Range and habitat
The Polynesian ground dove was originally found in both the Tuamotu Archipelago and the Society Islands. It has since been extirpated from the Society Islands, where it was found on Tahiti and Moorea. In addition, local reports have suggested that the Polynesian Ground Dove likely lived on Fakarava, Fangatau, Katiu, Makemo, Manihi, Reao, Tahanea, Tematagi, Tikehau, Tuanake, Vahanga and Vahitahi, although no specimens were ever collected from these islands.
The Polynesian ground dove or Society Islands ground dove or Tutururu is a critically endangered species of bird in the family Columbidae. Originally endemic to the Society Islands and Tuamotus in French Polynesia, it has now been extirpated from most of its former range by habitat loss and predation by introduced species such as cats and rats, and the species is now endemic only in the Acteon islands.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Pigeons nest in trees or on the ground and raise few young. An island dove with a high threat category is usually one introduced mammal away from silence.
In crisis
The total population is estimated to be around 100-120 birds. Even so, as this terrestrial species has no native mammalian predators, it is very vulnerable to the introduced feral cats and rats. The ground dove became locally extinct on most islands shortly after they were discovered by Europeans, and it is thought that the populations were already at low levels well before that.
Since 1950, the ground dove has only been recorded on two islands: three specimens were collected from Matureivavao, while Rangiroa Atoll was discovered to host a small population of 12 to 20 birds on two of its islands in 1991. It is believed to be extinct in the Society Islands and extirpated from much of its range in the Tuamotus. Even so, these islands are rarely visited by ornithologists, and many small islets need to be explored to determine if they also host a surviving population of the Polynesian ground dove.
Alopecoenas erythropterus is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Alopecoenas erythropterus, Wikidata item Q27074704. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
