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Norfolk ground dove

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The Norfolk ground dove (Pampusana norfolkensis) was a small bird in the pigeon family that lived only on Norfolk Island. It went extinct by about 1800, a few decades after Europeans arrived, mainly because predators were introduced to the island. No physical specimens survive, and most of what we know comes from a single watercolor by John Hunter made around 1788–1790, labeled “Dove. Norfolk Island.”

Its scientific name has changed over time:
- It was once called Columba norfolciensis Latham (1801), but that name was used for other species too and was dropped by the ICZN in 2010.
- Forshaw (2015) named Alopecoenas norfolkensis.
- In 2019, the genus was changed to Pampusana, giving Pampusana norfolkensis.

This is a brief account, and more information would help researchers learn more about this extinct dove.


This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:13 (CET).