New Caledonian nightjar
| New Caledonian nightjar | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Strisores |
| Order: | Caprimulgiformes |
| Family: | Caprimulgidae |
| Genus: | Eurostopodus |
| Species: | E. exul
|
| Binomial name | |
| Eurostopodus exul Mayr, 1941
| |
The New Caledonian nightjar (Eurostopodus exul) is a poorly known species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is endemic to New Caledonia.
Description
[edit]The species was first described by Ernst Mayr in 1941, from a specimen collected in New Caledonia on the Whitney South Sea Expedition in 1939. Mayr initially described the species as Eurostopodus mystacalis exul, believing it to be a subspecies of white-throated nightjar.[2]
Based on the type specimen, this nightjar has silvery-grey plumage with dark blotches and streaks, with a black crown and dark, grey-brown underparts. It lacks the nuchal collar seen in some Caprimulgiformes, but does display a white patch on its throat.[3]
Conservation
[edit]It is considered possibly extinct, as it is known only from the holotype which was collected in 1939. The specimen was of a bird taken in coastal savanna. The possibility of decline in population was probably caused by predation by introduced cats and rats, alongside habitat destruction.[1]
References
[edit]
- ^ a b BirdLife International (2025). "Eurostopodus exul". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2025 e.T22726340A250552840. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2025-2.RLTS.T22726340A250552840.en.
- ^ Mayr, Ernst (1941). "Birds Collected During the Whitney South Sea Expedition: Notes on the Genera Halcyon, Turdus, and Eurostopodus". American Museum Novitates. 1152: 6–7.
- ^ del Hoyo, J., N. Collar, E. Garcia, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). New Caledonian Nightjar (Eurostopodus exul), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.
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