Nuku Hiva Monarch Pomarea nukuhivae Scientific name definitions

17 cm. Male was identical to male P. mendozae, having entire plumage black, with dark iris, pale blue bill, dark legs. Female was black, with contrasting white lower back and rump, all-white tail, white wings with black markings, and white lowermost underparts.

Previously treated, along with P. mira (possibly extinct), as a race of P. mendozae (nominate race extinct), but current genetic evidence supports their separation (1 Cibois, A., Thibault, J.C. and Pasquet, É. (2004). Biogeography of eastern Polynesian monarchs (Pomarea); an endemic genus close to extinction. Condor 106(4): 837–851. Close ). Monotypic.

This species was last recorded in the 1930s and was not found in several targeted surveys between 1972 and 1999 (2 Thibault, J.C. and Meyer, J.Y. (2001). Contemporary extinction and population decline of the monarchs (Pomarea spp.) in French Polynesia, South Pacific Ocean. Oryx 35(1): 73–80. Close ). There were unconfirmed sightings in 1975 of a passerine bird matching this monarch's description, but the species was not seen in 1997 or 1999 (2 Thibault, J.C. and Meyer, J.Y. (2001). Contemporary extinction and population decline of the monarchs (Pomarea spp.) in French Polynesia, South Pacific Ocean. Oryx 35(1): 73–80. Close ) and is considered extinct. It used to occur in forest, most of which, apart from upland relict patches, has been destroyed by intensive grazing and fires and, especially, through invasion by Leucaena leucophala, a small-leaved leguminous tree unsuitable for nest-sites. It is likely that introduced rats (Rattus) also played a role in its disappearance.

Nuku Hiva, in Marquesas Is, French Polynesia.