The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy
Author
Bishop, K. David
text
Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club
2023
2023-03-06
143
1
3
62
journal article
298463
10.25226/bboc.v143i1.2023.a2
6028cf6b-e944-40d1-b774-7caa1c970409
2513-9894
11642130
805136AB-F3FE-4C77-85AC-E37423156B6D
*SUPERB FRUIT DOVE
Ptilinopus superbus
Range
P. s.
superbus
Biak, Numfor, Yapen.
Status
Resident. First recorded on Biak in
December 1962
(
King 1979
). Thereafter few records until the early 1990s when greater familiarity with the species’ vocalisations improved visitors’ ability to detect it. We recorded several on most visits. That this species has only recently been found on Biak and was not taken by any collectors suggests it may be a latter-day colonist, as this dove was obtained by early collectors such as A. A. Bruijn and O. Beccari on Numfor and Yapen (
Salvadori 1880
‒82) and repeatedly recorded thereafter, especially on Yapen (
Diamond & Bishop 2020
). The bird in
Fig. 4
has a grey, rather than purplish, breast thereby confirming that the Biak population belongs with the nominate subspecies as expected.