Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species was known from the island of Kosrae, Micronesia, but it is now Extinct likely due to forest disturbance and predation by introduced rats. The last specimens were taken in 1827, and it was absent when the island was next visited in 1880.
Population justification
None remain.
Aplonis corvina was endemic to Kosrae, Caroline Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (Greenway 1967). It is only known from two specimens, both collected by Heinrich von Kittlitz in 1827 (Knox and Walters 1994), and both now in St Petersburg (Pratt et al. 1987). It was extinct by the time that Otto Finsch visited the island in 1880 (Greenway 1967).
It inhabited mountain forests.
Its extinction may have been partly attributable to depredation by introduced rats, which were accidentally introduced by whalers and are abundant on the island. However, forest disturbance likely also played a role (Hume 2017).
Text account compilers
Vine, J.
Contributors
Brooks, T., Khwaja, N., Mahood, S. & Martin, R.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Kosrae Starling Aplonis corvina. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/kosrae-starling-aplonis-corvina on 22/01/2025.
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 22/01/2025.