Gallicolumba ferruginea (Tanna Ground Dove)

[Melanie]

Tanna Ground-dove Gallicolumba ferruginea is known only from Forster's 1774 painting, from Tanna Island, Vanuatu, in Tring. Taxonomy Although E. Mayr considers it "far more likely that the bird came from The Tonga Islands. The description fits that of [Shy Ground-Dove] Gallicolumba stairii with a few minor discrepancies", Goodwin asserts the specific status of the taxon

Source: www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/40137/all.

[Deleted]

Hi !

But only the female, the male, which is known from accounts does not look like Gallicolumba stairi.

[sebbe67]

there is only one specimen known which was as a female, collected in 17th August 1774 on Tanna island

I must say that this is my "favoruite" extinct pigeon just becuase so little is known about it , it is mysterious bird.

there is a picture of this pigeon in HBW volume 7

there is some great difference between the Shy ground dove and the Tanna ground dove, the Tanna species has a partly green wing, the Shy ground dove has dark brown, Tanna has red legs while shy ground dove has brown-greyish.


Account made in 17th August 1774 made by Johann Reinhold. This describe the collection of the only known specimen.

"I went ashore, we shot a new pigeon and got a few plants."

[Deleted]

Hi !

The description of a male is also known, dont ask me from where, but under 'Extinct Art' I have painted this male using the description. This description is in 'Pigeons and Doves'.

I also know this rather crude picture from Forster of a female.

By the way, my favorite extinct pigeon is the Liverpool Pigeon, that I call 'titi' because I believe that it is that bird described from Tahiti under the native name titi.

Bye Alex

[Deleted]

Hi !

... from 'Pigeons and Doves':

"Only known from Tanna Island, southern Vanuatu. One, apparently a female, was collected on Tanna in August 1774, the fate of the specimen being unknown. What was probably a male specimen was deposited in the Banksian Collection but was subsequently lost. It is now only known from two old descriptions which appear to refer to these two birds respectively, and a painting by Georg Forster."

Bye Alex

[another specialist]

piclib.nhm.ac.uk/piclib/www/comp.php?img=50409&frm=med&search=extinct%20birds

[sebbe67]

[Deleted]

Hi !

This is a nice image !

[Carlos]

In Fuller (2002) Extinct Birds (Foreword - HBW7)

Tanna Ground-dove Gallicolumba ferruginea

^{Gallicolumba ferruginea J. R. Forster, 1844
Descr. Anim.: 256 (Published posthumously).}

The Tanna Ground-dove is known from just a single, rather crude, painting by Georg Forster that was produced during Captain Cook's second voyage around the world. This painting is in th Forster portfolio at the Natural History Museum, London, and in the margin the following words are inscribed: Tanna, female, 17th August 1774


Nothing more is known of the species. a specimen of it did one exist although this, like the species itself, vanished long ago. concerning the events of 17th August Georg Forster's father, Johann Reinhold, made this spare record: I went ashore, we shot a new pigeon and got a few plants.

The island of Tanna is one of the islands of Vanuatu, and for many years it had an ugly reputation on account of the ferocity of the native inhabitants. For this reason it was seldom visited during the nineteenth century, and at some time during that period the native pigeon seems to have passed away.

In Fuller (2001):

[Melanie]

Columba ferruginea Forster (Descr. Anim., p. 265, 1844),
"habitat in silvis insulae Tanna, ab incolis vocatur Mahk,"
representedin Forster's drawings( pl. 142), "Tanna, 9, 17th
August, 1774." In Forster's narrative (German edition) the
following remark (sub. 17.8., 1774) refers to this specimen:
"Hinter diesen Feldern kamen wir an einen Wald, wo es jedoch
keine andere Art yon Baeumen gab, als jene die wir bereits am
Strande gefunden hatten. Dagegen ward eine Taube yon
neuer Gattung geschossen."
(in English: Behind these fields we came into a forest where there were no other kind of trees than those as we have already found ashore. But we have shot a pigeon of a new genus)
Apparently this inhabitant of the island of Tanna (southern
New Hebrides) has become extinct. To judge from Forster's
description it is closely related to Gallicolumba sanctaecrucis
Mayr (Amer. Mus. Nov., No. 820: 1, 1935); additional description
is in Mayr (Birds of Southwest Pacific (New York), 1945:
183), a rare species which has been found in the Santa Cruz
Archipelago (islands of Tinakula and Utupua) and on the island
of Espiritu Santo (Northern New Hebrides).
The specimen collected by Forster was probably a male, not
a female as stated. Forster's description of this (extinct?)
ground-dove has been copied by Count Salvadori (Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus., 21: 605, No. 4) and, many years before, by Wagler
who had access to Forster's then still unedited manuscript and
who was the first to publish the name Columba ferruginea; he
added Forster's description of this bird and some references to
literature which do not belong hereto. Count Salvadori
(op. cit., p. 52) was mistaken when he placed the name Columba
ferruginea Wagler (Isis, 1829: 738) in the synonymy of Osmotreron
fulvicollis Wagler.
The extinct ground-dove from Tanna has thus to be called
Gallicolumba ferruginea (Wagler).

elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v067n01/p0066-p0088.pdf

[Melanie]

My own article from the Wikipedia

The Tanna Ground Dove (Gallicolumba ferruginea) is an extinct dove species. Its taxonomic affiliation is uncertain but at its first scientific description by Johann Georg Wagler in 1829 it was classified into the genus Gallicolumba (which includes Ground doves and Bleeding hearts). It was endemic to the Pacific island of Tanna (Vanuatu, formerly New Hebrides).


[edit]
Description
The Tanna Ground Dove is only known by a single female which was sketched by George Forster at Tanna during the second circumnavigation by James Cook to the South Sea in August 1774. This painting can be seen in the Natural History Museum in London.

According to Forster's description the specimen had a length of 27 cm.

The head and the breast were rusty brown. The back was coloured dark red to purple. The wings had a dark green hue. The primaries were brown grey with narrow pale edges. The abdomen was grey; the bill blackish with a slightly swollen cere. The iris was yellowish and the feet were coloured red.

When the Forsters analyzed the stomach of the dead dove they noticed that it contents fruits of a wild nutmeg (Myristica inutilis). They searched for this tree on Tanna but their endeavor was not successful.

[edit]
Extinction
The year of its extinction is unknown. When Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George saw the first and only specimen on August 17, 1774 they shot it. Later this specimen left lost. The only evidence of its existence are George Forster's painting and an entry in his notes.

[edit]
References
Errol Fuller (2000). "Extinct Birds", Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-8160-1833-2
David Day (1981). "The Doomsday Book of Animals" , Ebury Press, London, ISBN 0670279870
[edit]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanna_Ground_Dove

[Melanie]

Among the productions of the island, there is reason to believe that the nutmeg-tree might be mentioned. This is collected from the circumstance of Mr. Forster’s having shot a pigeon, in the craw of which a wild nut-meg was discovered. However, though he took some pains to find the tree, his endeavours were not attended with success.

etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/c/cook/james/c77n/chapter4.html

[sebbe67]

The mysterious Tanna Ground Dove Gallicolumba ferruginea is known only from Forster’s 1774 painting, from Tanna island, in Tring (BirdLife 2004b). Mayr proposed the bird came from Tonga as the description fits that of G. stairi (in BirdLife, 2004b). Goodwin asserts the specific status of the taxon (in BirdLife, 2004b). Other contemporaries assume this species is based upon an error, though some suggest it might imply an extinct race of G. santaecrucis on Tanna (Bregulla, 1992). Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) precariously included this species in their list. BirdLife (2004b) considers it an EXTINCT species. We depart from Sibley and Monroe and BirdLife with regard to this bird. Given the lack of hard evidence and at the very best an extinct status, we choose to ignore the Tanna Ground Dove G. ferruginea

www.positiveearth.org/vanbirds/profileresults.asp?select=GALSAN
Birds of Vanuatu

[Peter]

melanie said:

Tanna Ground-dove Gallicolumba ferruginea is known only from Forster's 1774 painting, from Tanna Island, Vanuatu, in Tring. Taxonomy Although E. Mayr considers it "far more likely that the bird came from The Tonga Islands. The description fits that of [Shy Ground-Dove] Gallicolumba stairii with a few minor discrepancies", Goodwin asserts the specific status of the taxon

Source: www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/40137/all.

Does anyone have an image of the Shy Ground Dove (Gallicolumba stairi)? I would like to see how it looks like for comparison with the Tanna Ground Dove.

Peter

[Deleted]

female above

[Peter]

Thanks! Is indeed quite similar. Especially when you look to Forster's painting, and than most to the male (looking to the white/light colour at the body in front of the wing). As also assumed in the Auk article by Stresemann (1950), who wrote 'The specimen collected by Forster was probably a male, not a female as stated.'.

[Melanie]

Now in new genus Alopecoenas

www.jboyd.net/Taxo/List3.html#columbidae

[Deleted]

Jan 24, 2011 12:50:18 GMT Melanie said:

Now in new genus Alopecoenas

www.jboyd.net/Taxo/List3.html#columbidae

... oh fine ...

Thank You for the link!

[another specialist]

Just changing them all on my website.

There is a few other changes to look at there also.

[Deleted]

Jan 24, 2011 16:28:20 GMT another specialist said:

Just changing them all on my website.

Yep, me too.