Mangaia Swiftlet

The Mangaia swiftlet ( Collocalia manuoi ) is an extinct species of bird in the tribe of swiftlets. The specific epithet is derived from the Polynesian word " manu" ( = wild birds) and "oi " from ( = flutter through the air).

The Mangaia swiftlet is known only from subfossilem bone material, which was funded in 1997 by David William Steadman on the island of Mangaia Cook -a-days. The holotype consists of a right coracoid, the paratypes of two right and left complete Coracoiden, from a complete Carpometacarpus, from a virtually complete finger bones, and of a right tibiotarsus wherein the proximal end is missing. Three Coracoiden have lengths of 8.07, 8.0 and 8.2 mm. The Carpometacarpus measures 13.44 mm and 6.69 mm finger bones.

The bones are larger than those of the occurring on the neighboring island of Atiu recent Atiusalangane ( Aerodramus sawtelli ). According to Steadman is, despite the proximity of the home islands, from osteological point of view not a close kinship between the two taxa.

The geological layers in which the material was discovered, dated to the period 1390-1470.

According to the currently valid classification of the Swifts Mangaia swiftlet probably belongs to the genus Aerodramus.