Tongan Tooth-billed Pigeon
Didunculus placopedetes
The tooth-billed pigeons are the only genus (Didunculus) of the subfamily Didunculinae, in the pigeon and dove family, (Columbidae). It has no close living relatives, but it has been shown to be genetically close to the dodo, and the genus name Didunculus means "little dodo". The jaw and tongue structure, and the superficially parrotlike bill have suggested a relationship to the parrots, but these features have arisen from its specialised diet rather than any real relationship.
From the article Tongan tooth-billed pigeon on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The Tongan tooth-billed pigeon is described as looking similar to its relative, the tooth-billed pigeon, although it was larger. The Tongan tooth-billed pigeon is only defined by subfossils found at archaeological sites. A common predator of the Tongan tooth-billed pigeon was the barn owl (formerly T. a. lulu; now T. j. delicatula). It was about 31 to 38 centimetres long and weighed about 400 grams. with a short tail and a curved beak.
Range & habitat
It was located on the Tongan islands of Tongatapu, Lifuka, Ha'ano, 'Uiha, and Ha'afeva and lived in terrestrial environments. Its diet consisted of raw fruit of the Rhus taitensis. It also ate seeds from Heliconia laufao, nutmegs from the genus Myristica, tuber from species in the genus of Dioscorea, and berries.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
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This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 472615.