Aplonis fusca ssp. hulliana (Lord Howe Starling)

[another specialist]

TAXON SUMMARY
Tasman Starling (Lord Howe Island)
1 Family Sturnidae

2 Scientific Name Aplonis fusca hulliana Mathews, 1912

3 Common Name Tasman Starling (Lord Howe Island)

4 Conservation status Extinct

5 Reasons for listing
There have been no records of this subspecies since
1918.

6 Infraspecific taxa
A. f. fusca (Norfolk Island) is also Extinct.

7 Past range and abundance
This subspecies of Tasman Starling was endemic to
Lord Howe I. (Mathews, 1929). It has not been seen
since 1918 (Hindwood, 1940). During the period 1913-
15, it was described as occurring in ‘thousands’
(Hindwood, 1940).

8 Ecology
The Tasman Starling nested in tree hollows
(Hindwood, 1940) and presumably occupied all
forested habitats on Lord Howe I. It was apparently
destructive to fruit and other crops as well as other
birds, supposedly taking their eggs (Hindwood, 1940,
Hutton, 1991).

9 Reasons for extinction
The Tasman Starling would have been particularly
vulnerable to predation by Black Rats Rattus rattus after
they colonised the Lord Howe I. in 1918, so rats
probably caused its extinction. The subspecies was
extinct before the Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris
arrived on the island (Long, 1981).

www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/action/birds2000/pubs/tasman-starlinglhi.pdf

[another specialist]

www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php?species=1879

www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=6741&m=0

[another specialist]

Norfolk and Lord Howe Starling
The Norfolk and Lord Howe starlings are two forms of the same species Aplonis fusca ( Gould, 1836). The rats that were responsible for the extinction of the Lord Howe subspecies Aplonis fusca hulliana reached the island during the disaster with the SS Makambo in June 1918. Until that time the starling was considered a pest by the local fruit farmers. Almost simultaneously the Norfolk Island Starling Aplonis fusca fusca disappeared from nearby Norfolk Island. Only a handful of museum specimens of these starlings are still in existence. The National Museum of Natural History possesses three skins of the Lord Howe form, two of which were donated by the museum in Sydney; the provenance of the third specimen is unknown. A fourth skin, of an immature specimen, was purchased from the dealer G.A. Frank and is labelled " Norfolk or Lord Howe".


Norfolk and Lord Howe Starling
The Norfolk and Lord Howe starlings are two forms of the same species Aplonis fusca ( Gould, 1836). The rats that were responsible for the extinction of the Lord Howe subspecies Aplonis fusca hulliana reached the island during the disaster with the SS Makambo in June 1918. Until that time the starling was considered a pest by the local fruit farmers. Almost simultaneously the Norfolk Island Starling Aplonis fusca fusca disappeared from nearby Norfolk Island. Only a handful of museum specimens of these starlings are still in existence. The National Museum of Natural History possesses three skins of the Lord Howe form, two of which were donated by the museum in Sydney; the provenance of the third specimen is unknown. A fourth skin, of an immature specimen, was purchased from the dealer G.A. Frank and is labelled " Norfolk or Lord Howe".

www.naturalis.nl/300pearls/default.asp

[another specialist]

www.natuurinformatie.nl/nnm.dossiers/natuurdatabase.nl/i001355.html

[Carlos]

Tasman (Lord Howe Island) Starling Aplonis fusca hulliana Matthews, 1912

RMNH 110.032: male. Lord Howe Island. Exchanged with Museum Sydney, 1900.
RMNH 110.033: adult, female. Lord Howe Island.
RMNH 110.035: female. Lord Howe Island. Exchanged with Museum Sydney, 1900.

RMNH 110.032, RMNH 110.033 and RMNH 110.035

ip30.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=30

[surroundx]

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.

[Sebbe]

Extinct Australian birds: numbers, characteristics, lessons and prospects.

Since European colonisation of Australia in 1788, nine Australian bird species (1.2% of the Australian total) have become extinct, along with 22 subspecies (of 16 species). Consistent with global patterns, Australia’s island endemic birds have been particularly susceptible, comprising eight of the nine species’ extinctions (38% of the bird species endemic to islands smaller than Tasmania), and 13 of the 22 subspecies’ extinctions. The extinction of only one bird species (Paradise Parrot Psephotellus pulcherrimus) from the Australian mainland contrasts with the far higher rate of extinctions of Australian mammals (27 of 312 species that occurred on the Australian mainland), and is comparable with the rate of extinctions of birds on the mainland of other continents over this period. Extinctions of Australian birds were caused mainly by introduced predators (especially for island taxa), habitat degradation, and hunting (for some island taxa). The timing of some extinctions is uncertain, but the first bird extinction subsequent to European colonisation was the loss of the flightless White Gallinule Porphyrio albus from Lord Howe Island over the period 1788–1790. Extinctions have occurred in most decades since then, with the most recent being for Norfolk Island’s White-chested White-eye Zosterops albogularis in the decade 2000–2009. Environmental legislation, an extensive conservation reserve system, and dedicated conservation management efforts have prevented some extinctions. However, local extirpations continue, many threatened species continue to decline and, without an increase in conservation efforts, the rate of extinctions is likely to increase, mainly due to the direct and compounding impacts of climate change.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01584197.2023.2240345#abstract