- Huahine Gull
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Huahine Gull Conservation status FossilScientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae Genus: Chroicocephalus Species: C. utunui Binomial name Chroicocephalus utunui
(Steadman, 2002)Synonyms - Larus utunui
The Huahine Gull (Chroicocephalus utunui), also known as the Society Islands Gull, is an extinct bird, a species of gull of which subfossil bones were found at the Fa'ahia archeological site on Huahine, in the Society Islands of French Polynesia.
The site is an early Polynesian occupation site dating to between 700 CE and 1200 CE, containing, as well as anthropogenic material, the remains of many species of birds now either globally or locally extinct, that were killed for their flesh, bones or feathers. The gull was described (as Larus utunui) from 12 bones from two individual birds. Osteological similarities suggest that the nearest living relative of the Huahine Gull is the Silver Gull (C. novaehollandiae), the nearest extant populations of which are in New Zealand, 3,800 km south-west of Huahine.[1]
References
- ^ Steadman, David W. (2002). "A new species of gull (Laridae: Larus) from an archeological site on Huahine, Society Islands". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 115: 1–17.
Gulls (family: Laridae) Genus Larus Pacific Gull • Belcher's Gull • Olrog's Gull • Black-tailed Gull • Heermann's Gull • Common Gull (or Mew Gull) • Ring-billed Gull • California Gull • Great Black-backed Gull • Kelp Gull (or Cape Gull) • Glaucous-winged Gull • Western Gull • Yellow-footed Gull • Glaucous Gull • Iceland Gull • Kumlien's Gull • Thayer's Gull • European Herring Gull • Heuglin's Gull • American Herring Gull • Yellow-legged Gull • Caspian Gull • Vega Gull (or East Siberian Gull / Mongolian Gull) • Armenian Gull • Slaty-backed Gull • Lesser Black-backed GullIchthyaetus Leucophaeus Chroicocephalus Saundersilarus Hydrocoloeus Rhodostethia Rissa Pagophila Xema Creagrus Categories:- Gulls
- Chroicocephalus
- Extinct birds
- Birds of French Polynesia
- Late Quaternary prehistoric birds
- Holocene extinctions
- Fossil taxa described in 2002
- Huahine
- Prehistoric bird stubs
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