New Caledonian Ground Dove

The New Caledonian Ground Dove ( Gallicolumba Longitarsus ) is an extinct pigeon of the genus Indopazischen Earth Dove ( Gallicolumba ). She was endemic to New Caledonia and is known only from subfossilem bone material from the Holocene. The specific epithet longus ( "long " ) and tarsus ( "foot" ) refers to the very thin, elongated tarsometatarsus.

The holotype, a complete left tarsometatarsus, was in the Pindai Cave (21 ° 20 'S, 164 ° 57'O ) on the peninsula Nepoui discovered on the west coast of New Caledonia in 1986. The paratypes include a complete left femur, the proximal half of the left femur, the distal ( distal ) half of a right tarsometatarsus, the proximal ( proximal ) fragment of the left Tarsometarsus and a portion of the left coracoid.

After also be dead Riesenerdtaube ( Gallicolumba nui ), the New Caledonian Ground Dove is the second largest known species of Indo-Pacific Earth Dove.

The question of whether the species was airworthy or unable to fly, can not be answered due to the sparse bone material.

The exact Aussterbezeitpunkt the Caledonian Ground Dove is not known. Presumably, they disappeared during the early colonization of New Caledonia.