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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Peter Kovalik" data-source="post: 3680555" data-attributes="member: 80630">Erythropitta (s)spJoseph Kelly, Arief Rahman, Ingo Grass, Johny S. Tasirin & Matthias Waltert. Avifaunal status updates, range extensions and potential new taxa onthe lesser Sangihe and Talaud islands, Indonesia. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 65: 482–496.Abstract:The Sangihe-Talaud Endemic Bird Area harbours one of the highest densities of endemic and threatened bird species in the world. Despite this, there have been no ornithological studies of many of the islands in modern times, and some have no records at all. Using both investigative and more systematic methods, 13 islands were surveyed to gain a comprehensive overview of the resident species. The findings include range extensions for a number of endemic, range-restricted and/or threatened species, as well as completely new regional records. Of particular interest are the seven Nanusa islands, lying north-east of Talaud. Previously there were no published reports for any faunal group here, yet cluster analyses show that these islands have the most unique avifaunal assemblage within Sangihe-Talaud. Most interestingly, there is at least one potential new taxa—an Erythropitta that is clearly different from the nearby Talaud Pitta (Erythropitta inspeculata). Two new records for SangiheTalaud, lemon-bellied white-eye (Zosterops chloris) and island whistler (Pachycephala phaionota), require further investigation to determine their taxonomic status. Another notable finding was the complete lack of evidence for the continued existence of the Siau scops-owl (Otus siaoensis), a Siau island-endemic only known from a single holotype. This study shows that important avifaunal discoveries remain in Indonesia, and that the conservation value of small islands should not be dismissed due to their size or inaccessibility.[<a href="https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/app/uploads/2017/04/65rbz482-496.pdf" target="_blank">pdf</a>]</blockquote>

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