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Porphyrio albus

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA AVES GRUIFORMES RALLIDAE

Scientific Name: Porphyrio albus
Species Authority: (White, 1790)
Common Name/s:
English – Lord Howe Island Swamphen, Lord Howe Swamphen, White Gallinule
Taxonomic Notes: Although sometimes considered conspecific with Purple Swamphen P. porphyrio (Livezey 1998), P. albus had shorter and more robust legs and toes, a smaller bill and softer remiges and rectrices (Taylor and van Perlo 1998).

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Extinct ver 3.1
Year Published: 2012
Assessor/s: BirdLife International
Reviewer/s: Butchart, S. & Symes, A.
Contributor/s:
Justification:
This species was known from Lord Howe Island, Australia, but has not been definitely recorded since 1790 and was Extinct by the time the island was settled in 1834. Hunting was the major cause of its decline.
History:
2008 – Extinct
2004 – Extinct
2000 – Extinct
1994 – Extinct
1988 – Extinct

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description: Porphyrio albus is known from two skins in Liverpool and Vienna (Taylor and van Perlo 1998), several paintings, and some subfossil bones from Lord Howe Island, Australia (Marchant and Higgins 1993). Although not uncommon when discovered in 1790, the species was rapidly hunted to extinction; it had probably already vanished by the time the island was colonised in 1834 (Hindwood 1940).

Countries:
Regionally extinct:
Australia
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology: Nothing is known, it may have inhabited forest or marshland.

Systems: Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s): It was hunted to extinction by whalers and sailors.

Citation: BirdLife International 2012. Porphyrio albus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 May 2013.
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