Moorea sandpiper

The Moorea sandpiper or white-winged sandpiper (Prosobonia ellisi) is an extinct member of the large wader family Scolopacidae that was endemic to the Moorea in French Polynesia, where the locals called it te-te in the Tahitian language.

Moorea sandpiper
Illustration by William Ellis
Conservation status
Extinct  (19th century)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Scolopacidae
Genus:	Prosobonia
Species:	†P. ellisi
Binomial name
†Prosobonia ellisi Sharpe, 1906

Two specimens were collected by Georg Forster and William Anderson[2] between September 30 and October 11, 1777, during Captain Cook's third voyage, but both have since disappeared and the bird became extinct in the nineteenth century. The only hint at its former existence are Anderson's notes and the descriptions based on them, a painting by William Ellis and a plate by J. Webber which apparently depicts the other specimen.

These show a somewhat lighter brown bird than the Tahiti specimen, with no white spot behind the eye, a more conspicuous light rusty eye-ring, two white wing-bars and rusty secondary and primary coverts; one of Latham's specimens had yellow legs and feet. The exact relationships between the Moorea bird and the Tahiti sandpiper are still not fully resolved.

The bird was found "close to small brooks"[2] and it was still at least moderately common around 1776 - 1779 during Cook's last voyage. Invasive rats may have been a contributing factor in its demise[2].