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

by Rollin H. Baker

Gallinula chloropus guami Hartert

Gallinule

Gallinula chloropus guami Hartert, Novit. Zool., 24, 1917, p. 268. Type locality, Guam).

Fulica chloropus Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. "Uranie," Zool., 1824, p. 703 (Guam); Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 305 (Guahan).

Gallinula galeata var. sandwichensis Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 8, 1896, p. 34 (Saypan, Tinian, Guam).

Gallinula chloropus Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 62 (Guam); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 31 (Guam); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 67 (Marianas); idem, Amer. Anthro., 4, 1902, p. 711 (Guam); idem, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 265 (Guam); idem, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 79 (Guam); Prowazek, Die deutschen Marianen, 1913, p. 101 (Marianen); Cox, Island of Guam, 1917, p. 21 (Guam); Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 177 (Guam); Strophlet, Auk, 63, 1946, p. 536 (Guam).

Gallinula chloropus guami Hartert, Vögel pal. Fauna, 15, 1921, p. 1843 (Guam); Kuroda, Avifauna Riu Kiu, 1925, p. 199 (Guam); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 43 (Guam, Tinian, Saipan); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 99 (Mariana Islands); Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 44, 1932, p. 226 (Pagan); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 197 (Guam, Tinian, Saipan, Pagan); Hachisuka, Birds Philippine Islands, 1, 1932, p. 241 (Guam); Peters, Checklist Birds World, 2, 1934, p. 204 (Marianne Islands); Bryan, Guam. Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 15 (Guam); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 222 (Guam, Tinian, Saipan, Pagan); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 288 (Marianas); Downs, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 49, 1946, p. 92 (Tinian); Stott, Auk, 1947, p. 525 (Saipan); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 49 (Guam, Tinian, Saipan).

Geographic range.—Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Pagan, Saipan, Tinian, Guam.

Characters.—Adult: Head and neck sooty black; upper back dark, bluish slate-gray; lower back and wing-coverts brownish; tail blackish-brown; wings dark brown, outer edge of first primary white; breast and upper abdomen dark slate-gray, feathers on sides of breast with longitudinal white streak; under wing dark with white edges; lower abdomen grayish with white-tipped feathers; vent black; under tail-coverts white; bill and frontal shield red, tip of bill yellowish; legs and feet olive-green.

Adult female: Resembles adult male but usually with smaller frontal shield.