Tanna Ground Dove
Tanna Ground Dove ( Gallicolumba ferruginea )
The Tanna Ground Dove ( Gallicolumba ferruginea ) is an extinct pigeon. Their taxonomic affiliation is unsecured. Johann Georg Wagler, it placed first description in the scientific basis Georg Forster records of the genus of Indo-Pacific Earth Dove ( Gallicolumba ). She was endemic to the Pacific island of Tanna ( New Hebrides ).
Description
The Tanna Ground Dove is known only from a single female, which was drawn during the second Cook - world journey to the South Seas in August 1774 by Georg Forster on Tanna. This picture now hangs in the Natural History Museum in London. After Forster's description of the animal was 27 cm long. The head and chest were rusty brown. The back was dark red - purple. The wings had a dark green tint. The wings were gray with brown edges, narrow pale. The belly was gray; the bill black with a slight curve at the cere. The iris was yellowish, and the feet had a red coloring.
Extinction
The exact year of extinction is not known. All information on this species by Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg. On August 5, 1774, the Resolution anchored off Tanna and Forster made some studies of the flora and the indigenous population. On August 17, 1774 a copy was spotted and shot a hitherto unknown pigeon. This specimen disappeared later. Then you have this pigeon never seen again, so that only Georg Forster's drawing and marginal note is present as the only proof of existence.