Choiseul Pigeon

SCI Name:  Microgoura meeki
Protonym:  Microgoura meeki Bull.Br.Orn.Club 14 p.78
Taxonomy:  Columbiformes / Columbidae / Microgoura
Taxonomy Code:  chopig1
Type Locality:  Choiseul, Solomon Islands.
Author:  Rothschild
Publish Year:  1904
IUCN Status:  Extinct

DEFINITIONS

MICROGOURA
‡ (Columbidae; Ϯ Choiseul Pigeon M. meeki) Gr. μικρος mikros  little; genus Goura Stephens, 1819, crowned pigeon. The Choiseul Pigeon resembled the crowned pigeons in its terrestrial habits and large crest, but was half the size of those giants; it has not been seen since January 1904; "MICROGOURA, n. gen.   Cere naked to the forehead, the naked, soft portion being about 22 to 23 mm. long from the end of the hard rhamphotheca to the feathering on the forehead, and about 13 mm. wide at base of forehead.  Short, velvety feathers covering the lores, lateral bases of both mandibles, upper chin, and a line across the forehead.  Sides of head and throat very sparsely feathered.   A large, flat crest consisting of feathers with segregated barbs, rising from the occiput.  Remiges hard and stiff.  Tail short, rounded, consisting of twelve rectrices.  Feet and legs naked up to just above the heel-joint; the metatarsus covered in front for about two-thirds with distinctly separated scutes, but the upper third smooth like the sides of the metatarsus, apparently soft in life.  Habits terrestrial.  The type was:— MICROGOURA MEEKI, n. sp.  ...  Hab. Choiseul Island, Solomon Islands.  ...  Named after its discoverer, Mr. A. S. Meek." (Rothschild 1904). 

meeki / meekiana
Albert Stewart Meek (1871-1943) English explorer, collector in New Guinea, Melanesia and Australia (syn. Amaurornis cinerea, subsp. Cacomantis flabelliformis, syn. Caprimulgus macrurus schlegelii, Ceyx, Charmosyna, syn. Coracina papuensis angustifrons, Corvus, subsp. Dicrurus bracteatus, subsp. Edolisoma melas, Erythropitta, subsp. Loriculus aurantiifrons, subsp. Macropygia amboinensis, subsp. Melanocharis versteri, subsp. Melanorectes nigrescens, ‡Microgoura, Micropsitta, syn. Myzomela obscura fumata, Ninox, subsp. Oedistoma pygmaeum, subsp. Pachycephala leucogastra, subsp. Parotia carolae, subsp. Podargus ocellatus, syn. Psittaculirostris desmarestii godmani, Ptiloprora, subsp. Sericornis papuensis, subsp. Syma torotoro, subsp. Symposiachrus browni, subsp. Tyto alba, Zosterops).