The Henderson sandpiper (Prosobonia sauli) is a small extinct Polynesian sandpiper shorebird from the Pitcairn Islands.
| Henderson sandpiper | |
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Extinct (ca. 1000 AD)
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Prosobonia |
| Species: | †P. sauli
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| Binomial name | |
| †Prosobonia sauli De Pietri et al., 2020
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Discovery and naming
editIt is based on subfossil remains found in 1991 and 1992 on Henderson Island, part of the Pitcairn Islands. Prosobonia sauli was named and described in 2020.[1]
Extinction
editThe Henderson sandpiper went extinct no earlier than the eleventh century (1000s), soon after humans arrived on Henderson Island. It is possible that these humans brought with them the Polynesian rat, which Polynesian sandpiper populations are very vulnerable to,[2] causing the animal to go extinct.[3]
References
edit- ^ Vanesa L. De Pietri; Trevor H. Worthy; R. Paul Scofield; Theresa L. Cole; Jamie R. Wood; Kieren J. Mitchell; Alice Cibois; Justin J. F. J. Jansen; Alan J. Cooper; Shaohong Feng; Wanjun Chen; Alan J. D. Tennyson; Graham M. Wragg (2020). "A new extinct species of Polynesian sandpiper (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae: Prosobonia) from Henderson Island, Pitcairn Group, and the phylogenetic relationships of Prosobonia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 192 (4): 1045–1070. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa115.
- ^ Fuller, Errol (1987). Extinct Birds. Facts on File Publications. pp. 94. ISBN 0816018332.
- ^ C, Hannah (2020-11-17). "Fossil Evidence Describe a New Species of the Polynesian Sandpiper". Science Times. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
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