Vanellus macropterus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	CHARADRIIFORMES	CHARADRIIDAE

Scientific Name:

Vanellus macropterus

Species Authority:

(Wagler, 1827)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Javanese Lapwing, Javan Lapwing, Sunda Plover

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Critically Endangered D ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2009

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s:

Symes, A., Butchart, S., Bird, J.

Contributor/s:

Rudyanto, P., van Balen, B.

Justification:
This conspicuous species has not been recorded since 1940, and it is likely to have declined severely owing to extensive habitat degradation and destruction, perhaps compounded by hunting. However, not all potential habitat has been surveyed, and local reports need to be followed up with dedicated surveys. Any remaining population is likely to be tiny, and for these reasons it is treated as Critically Endangered.

History:

2008	–	Critically Endangered
2006	–	Critically Endangered
2004	–	Critically Endangered
2000	–	Critically Endangered
1996	–	Extinct
1994	–	Extinct

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Vanellus macropterus is known with certainty only from the island of Java, Indonesia, where it inhabited marshes and river deltas in the west (on the north coast) and the east (on the south coast). A specimen and two eggs collected in the 19th century may have derived from Sumatra, and there is an unsubstantiated claim that it occurred on Timor (at least three specimens). It was described as local and uncommon, apparently only ever encountered in scattered pairs, and has not been recorded since 1940. The fact that it was reputedly impossible to overlook suggests very strongly that it is no longer present at any site studied in recent decades by ornithologists. However, there are areas that have not been recently surveyed and recent unconfirmed reports that require investigation², and recently translated observations from the 1920s suggest that its habitat requirements may have been less restricted than previously thought, perhaps providing some further hope for its continued existence³.
Countries:	Possibly extinct: Indonesia
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	Any remaining population assumed to be tiny based on lack of records since 1940 and failure of recent surveys to locate this species.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Population:

Any remaining population assumed to be tiny based on lack of records since 1940 and failure of recent surveys to locate this species.

Population Trend:

Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It inhabited "wide, steppe-like marshes" in river deltas, keeping to the least flooded areas during the rainy season. It also frequented damp pastures (including those grazed by buffalo) bordering marshes thickly covered in sedges and low aquatic vegetation, open areas near freshwater ponds, and was found in agricultural fields and rice paddy³. It occurred in isolated pairs, often in rather large areas, suggesting that it must have been a naturally low-density species. It was probably resident.
Systems:	Terrestrial; Freshwater

Habitat and Ecology:

It inhabited "wide, steppe-like marshes" in river deltas, keeping to the least flooded areas during the rainy season. It also frequented damp pastures (including those grazed by buffalo) bordering marshes thickly covered in sedges and low aquatic vegetation, open areas near freshwater ponds, and was found in agricultural fields and rice paddy³. It occurred in isolated pairs, often in rather large areas, suggesting that it must have been a naturally low-density species. It was probably resident.

Systems:

Terrestrial; Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Its decline has been attributed to 'merciless' hunting and trapping. However, it seems far more likely that high levels of human disturbance and conversion of its habitat to aquaculture and agricultural land were the principal agents. The fact that it may have been a naturally low-density species could have exacerbated its susceptibility to extinction in the face of large-scale habitat loss and disturbance.

Major Threat(s):

Its decline has been attributed to 'merciless' hunting and trapping. However, it seems far more likely that high levels of human disturbance and conversion of its habitat to aquaculture and agricultural land were the principal agents. The fact that it may have been a naturally low-density species could have exacerbated its susceptibility to extinction in the face of large-scale habitat loss and disturbance.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Conservation Actions Underway The species has been protected under Indonesian law since 1978, albeit probably rather too late to be of any influence. Several recent searches of historic and potential sites for this species have all drawn a blank but all potential sites have yet to be searched. Conservation Actions Proposed Tanjung Air needs surveying urgently, and other coastal wetlands and grasslands should be searched on Java and elsewhere in the Greater Sundas. Initiate immediate habitat protection in the event of its rediscovery.

Conservation Actions:

Conservation Actions Underway
The species has been protected under Indonesian law since 1978, albeit probably rather too late to be of any influence. Several recent searches of historic and potential sites for this species have all drawn a blank but all potential sites have yet to be searched.

Conservation Actions Proposed
Tanjung Air needs surveying urgently, and other coastal wetlands and grasslands should be searched on Java and elsewhere in the Greater Sundas. Initiate immediate habitat protection in the event of its rediscovery.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2009. Vanellus macropterus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 February 2012.
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