Gallicolumba salamonis

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• Classification Schemes
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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	COLUMBIFORMES	COLUMBIDAE

Scientific Name:	Gallicolumba salamonis
Species Authority:	(Ramsay, 1882)
Common Name/s: English – Thick-billed Ground-dove, Thick-billed Ground Dove, Thick-billed Ground-Dove

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Extinct     ver 3.1
Year Published:	2008
Assessor/s:	BirdLife International
Reviewer/s:	Bird, J., Butchart, S.
Contributor/s:	Dutson, G., Gibbs, D., James, R.
History:	2005 – Extinct 2004 – Critically Endangered 2000 – Critically Endangered 1996 – Critically Endangered 1994 – Critically Endangered

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:

Gallicolumba salamonis is known from just two specimens from the Solomon Islands, one from Makira (= San Cristobal) taken in 1882 and the other from Ramos (c.4 ha) in 1927. Although the Makira locality has been queried, it is thought to be valid4. Surveys looking for this species on Makira1,3,4,5 were unsuccessful, and recent surveys on Ramos7 failed to find any individuals and the species was not known to landowners7. There is now no longer any reasonable doubt that the last individual has died, probably some time ago. It is likely that it once occurred on other islands in the region. It may have been a tramp species of small islands with occasional birds occurring on larger islands, or the two specimens may just represent the last individuals of a declining population1,6.

Range Map:

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Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	The Makira bird was collected at 300 m, although congeners occur in forest at all altitudes. Ramos has drier beach forest than inland Makira and this may have been a preferred habitat-type.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):

The species is likely to have declined through a combination of predation by introduced cats and rats, and habitat destruction. On Makira, introduced rats, pigs, cats and dogs are widespread. Most lowland forest has been logged or is in logging concessions, and the larger pigeons are targeted by local hunters. Ramos remains forested and appears to be free of introduced predators, although hunters from the adjacent islands of Santa Isabel and Malaita make regular journeys to harvest the nesting Nicobar Pigeon Caloenas nicobarica, and may have shot ground-doves on these expeditions1,3,4.

Bibliography [top]

Buckingham, D. L.; Dutson, G. C. L.; Newman, J. L. 1995. Birds of Manus, Kolombangara and Makira (San Cristobal) with notes on mammals and records from other Solomon Islands. Lees, A. 1991. A protected forests system for the Solomon Islands. Maruia Society, Nelson, New Zealand.