Didunculus, PEALE, 1849

GENUS DIDUNCULUS PEALE, 1849 View in CoL

Remarks: The genus Didunculus is represented by one extant species, the tooth-billed pigeon, Didunculus strigirostris ( Jardine, 1845) , a large colourful pigeon, notable for its stout, hooked bill, that historically was restricted to the islands of Savai'i, Upolu and Nu'utele in Western Samoa ( Steadman, 2006a, b). Steadman (2006b) described an extinct species, Di. placopedetes , from Late Holocene fossil deposits on ' Eua and Tongatapu in Tonga. This was also a common species in the Teouma fauna on Efate, Vanuatu ( Worthy et al., 2015). Diagnostic features distinguishing this species from the similar-sized Columba vitiensis Quoy & Gaimard, 1830 and Du. pacifica and from the larger C. nicobarica were presented by Worthy et al. (2015). The present Tongan material did not differ from the Vanuatu material.

DIDUNCULUS PLACOPEDETES STEADMAN, 2006 , TONGAN TOOTH-BILLED PIGEON