Ptilinopus mercierii
The Red-moustached Fruit Dove, *Ptilinopus mercierii*, is a tragically extinct species of dove endemic to the Marquesas Islands. Males were striking, boasting a vibrant green body plumage, a distinctive purplish-pink crown, and, most notably, a crimson moustachial streak extending from the gape. Females were believed to be duller, possibly lacking the prominent facial markings, though detailed descriptions of both sexes are scarce due to limited specimens. Measuring approximately 22-25 cm in ...
This species was believed to inhabit humid tropical forests, likely frequenting the canopy and sub-canopy layers of volcanic islands, from coastal lowlands up into montane forests.
The Red-moustached Fruit Dove was almost certainly primarily frugivorous, feeding on a wide variety of small fruits and berries collected directly from forest trees and shrubs.
Due to its extinction before significant ecological study, detailed behavioral patterns of the Red-moustached Fruit Dove remain largely unknown and are inferred primarily from closely related extant *Ptilinopus* species. Like its fruit dove kin, it was likely diurnal, spending its days foraging h...
The Red-moustached Fruit Dove was endemic to the Marquesas Islands, a remote archipelago in French Polynesia. Specifically, the nominate subspecies, *Ptilinopus mercierii mercierii*, was confined to the island of Nuku Hiva, while a second subspecies, *Ptilinopus mercierii tristrami*, inhabited th...
Extinct
- The Red-moustached Fruit Dove is known from fewer than ten specimens, making it one of the rarest and most poorly understood birds ever discovered. - It was first described in 1890 from a specimen collected on Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands. - The last confirmed sightings of *Ptilinopus mer...