Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species was known from the island of Kosrae in Micronesia. The only records come from 1827-1828 and it is thought to have been driven Extinct by introduced predators in the subsequent 50 years.
Population justification
None remain.
Zapornia monasa was endemic to Kosrae, Caroline Islands, Federated States of Micronesia. Heinrich von Kittlitz collected the only two known specimens (now in St Petersburg, Russia) in 1827-1828, and regarded the species as uncommon even then (Taylor 1998). It declined to extinction over the next half-century.
It inhabited coastal swamps and marshes, taro patches and "continually wet, shadowy places in the forest" (Taylor 1998). Measurements of the carpometacarpii from x-rays of the two specimens suggest that the species was flightless (Steadman 1986).
Its extinction quickly followed the arrival of rats from missionary and whaling ships in the 1830s and 1840s (Taylor 1998).
Text account compilers
Vine, J.
Contributors
Brooks, T., Khwaja, N., Mahood, S. & Martin, R.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Kosrae Crake Zapornia monasa. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/kosrae-crake-zapornia-monasa on 05/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 05/01/2025.