Megapodius, GAIMARD, 1823

MEGAPODIUS GAIMARD, 1823 View in CoL

Remarks: Megapodes or scrubfowl of the genus Megapodius are widely distributed through Indonesia, Melanesia and western Polynesia and include many taxa that have been treated variously as subspecies or species ( Mayr, 1938; White & Bruce, 1986; Jones et al., 1995). Now 13 extant species are recognized ( Dickinson & Remsen, 2013). Several extinct species reveal a much greater Holocene diversity: Megapodius molistructor Balouet & Olson, 1989 from New Caledonia, Megapodius amissus Worthy, 2000 from Viti Levu, Fiji and M. alimentum from the Lau Group, Fiji and Tonga ( Steadman, 1989a; Worthy, 2000) fill the gap in extant distribution of the genus between Vanuatu and Tonga. In Tonga, the genus is now represented only by M. pritchardii , which is restricted to Niuafo'ou in northern Tonga ( Jones et al., 1995; Dickinson & Remsen, 2013). Formerly, it was once widespread in Tonga, and its range also included American Samoa and Niue ( Steadman, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2006a; Steadman et al., 2000, 2002).

To date, no other megapode genera are known from the Tongan region ( Steadman, 2006a). The nearest such to Tonga are present in Fiji, where a giant flightless form, Megavitiornis , existed ( Worthy, 2000), and Vanuatu, where a large volant form, Mwalau , also co-existed with Megapodius ( Worthy et al., 2015) . Species of Megapodius are easily distinguished from those of other megapode genera by numerous features, as listed by Worthy (2000) and Worthy et al. (2015).