The Avifauna of Micronesia, Its Origin, Evolution, and Distribution

by Rollin H. Baker

Aplonis opacus angus Momiyama

Micronesian Starling

Aplonis opaca anga Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 6. (Type locality, Toroas, Ruk Island.)

Lamproth[ornis] opaca Kittlitz (part), Observ. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 297 (Lougounor = Lukunor).

Lamprotornis columbinus Bonaparte (part), Consp. Avium, 1, 1850, p. 417 (Carolinen = Lukunor?).

Lamprotornis columbina Hartlaub (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 168 (Carolinen = Lukunor?).

Calornis kittlitzi Hartlaub and Finsch (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 100 (Mackenzie = Ulithi?); Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 23 (Mackenzie = Ulithi?); Schmeltz and Krause (part), Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, pp. 298, 330, 353 (Mortlock, Nukuor, Ruk).

Calornis pacificus Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 23 (Mackenzie = Ulithi?); idem (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 290 (Ruck, Mortlocks); idem (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 576 (Ruk); idem (part), Ibis, 1881, p. 111 (Ruk).

Calornis pacifica Finsch (part), Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 49 (Rukgruppe).

Aplonis kittlitzi Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 13, 1890, p. 136 (Ruk, Lugunor); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 44 (Ruk or Luganor, Nukuor); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 216 (Ruk, Nukuor, Luganor); Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 59 (Ruk, Luganor); idem, Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 6 (Ruk); Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ruck); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, p. 55 (Ruk).

Lamprocorax kittlitzi Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 542 (Ruk, Luganor).

Aplonis opaca Wetmore (part), in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 219 (Truk).

Aplonis kittlitzi kittlitzi Momiyama (part), Tori, 2, 1920, p. 1 (Truk, Wolea).

Aplonis opaca anga Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 71 (?Luganor or Ruk, ?Nukuor, Wolea or Oleai); Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Tori, 32, 1930, p. 109 (Ruk); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 847 (Ruk); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 170 (Uluthi, Feys, Wolea, Ifalik, Faraulep, Lamotrek, Truk, Nukuoro).

Aplornis apaca anga Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 458 (Truk?); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 188 (Uluthi, Feys, Wolea, Ifalik, Faraulep, Lamotrek, Truk, Nukuoro).

Aplonis opacus angus Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 297 (Truk and western Carolines); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, pp. 70, 71 (Ulithi Truk).

Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Ulithi, Fais, Wolea, Ifalik, Faraulep, Lamotrek, Truk, Nukuoro, Lukunor.

Characters.—Adult: Resembles A. o. opacus, but larger and with bill less deep and feathers with distinct greenish luster both on the upper parts and the lower parts. Female smaller.

Immature: Resembles immature of A. o. opacus, but underparts streaked with brighter, buffy-yellow coloring.

Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 45].

Specimens examined.—Total number, 38 (24 males, 14 females), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM—Ulithi, 27 (Aug. 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22)—Truk, 2 (Feb. 16, Dec. 13); AMNH—Truk, 9 (Jan. 29, Feb. 1, 28, June 14, Oct. 9, 14).

Nesting.—Hartert (1900:6) reports that at Truk nests of the starling were obtained by Owston's Japanese collectors from May to July and one in March. Nests contained from one to three eggs each.

Molt.—Adult birds taken by the NAMRU2 party at Ulithi in August are in molting plumage.

Food habits.—The stomachs of starlings obtained in August at Ulithi contained pieces of fruit and seeds. Twelve stomachs contained between one and three cc. of these foods. Papaya and small berries were the foods most frequently observed in the stomachs.

Remarks.—The Micronesian Starling of the central and western Carolines is one of the few land birds which lives on both the "high" islands and the "low" coral islands in Micronesia. It is found on several of the coral atolls in the Carolines. In the Hand-list of Japanese Birds (Hachisuka et al., 1932:170), the birds at Ulithi and Fais are placed in the subspecies A. o. angus, although these islands are only a short distance from Yap, at which place another subspecies, A. o. kurodai, occurs. Specimens from Yap are not available for comparison. Specimens from Ulithi and from Truk closely resemble one another.

The NAMRU2 party found the starling to be numerous at Truk and at Ulithi in 1945. At both places the natives make use of the birds as food. At Truk, McElroy found a larger number of birds in immature plumage than that of birds in adult plumage. Similar observations have been made at several other islands in Micronesia.

At Ulithi, the NAMRU2 party found the starling at all islands in the atoll visited in 1945. The bird was more numerous at the islands of Potangeras and Mangejang, and less numerous at the island of Losiep; the former two islands were occupied—at the time of the visit in 1945—by service personnel and the vegetation was disturbed, whereas Losiep was uninhabited and rarely visited by people. I attribute the smaller population of starlings at Losiep to the fact that on this island the large monitor lizard, Varanus indicus, was numerous while at Potangeras and Mangejang it was apparently entirely absent. These large lizards depend principally on the birds, rodents, and insects for their food supply. At Potangeras the rat Rattus exulans was exceedingly numerous, while at Losiep no sign of rodents was found nor were any taken in traps set during the daytime.