Saint Helena hoopoe
| Giant Hoopoe | |
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| Species: | U. antaios
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| Binomial name | |
| Upupa antaios (Olson, 1975)
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| Location of Saint Helena | |
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Upupa antaois (lapsus) | |
The Giant Hoopoe (Upupa antaios), also known as Saint Helena Giant Hoopoe or Saint Helena Hoopoe, is an extinct species of Hoopoe (family Upupidae), known exclusively from an incomplete subfossil skeleton.
It was endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. It is considered that it was much larger than its European and African relatives, and was completely flightless. The incomplete skeleton which was found in 1975 by palaeontologist Storrs Olson consists of both coracoids and the left femur. The reasons for its extinction remained unknown, though, it is assumed that it became extinct soon after, if not immediately after, Saint Helena was discovered and colonised in 1502, due to the introduction of predators such as black rats, and domestic cats, as well as habitat destruction.
As all known hoopoes are insectivores that feed primarily on large insects, the Giant Hoopoe may have been a predator of the Saint Helena Giant Earwig, (Labidura herculeana), an insect which has not been seen alive since 1967.
References
- Storrs L. Olson. (1975). Paleornithology of St Helena Island, south Atlantic Ocean. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 23.
External links
- Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as extinct
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