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Abstract: The avifauna of the Teouma archaeological site on Efate in Vanuatu is described. It derives from the Lapita levels (3,000 - 2,800 ybp) and immediately overlying middens extending to ~2,500 ybp. A total of 30 bird species is represented in the 1,714 identified specimens. Twelve species are new records for the island, which, added to previous records, indicates that minimally 39 land birds exclusive of passerines were in the original avifauna. Three-fourths of the 12 newly recorded species appear to have become extinct by the end of Lapita times, 2,800 ybp. The avifauna is dominated by eight species of columbids (47.5% Minimum Number Individuals [MNI]) including a large extinct tooth-billed pigeon, Didunculus placopedetes from Tonga, and a giant Ducula sp. cf. D. goliath from New Caledonia. Seabirds are rare despite the coastal location of the site. Fowl are important contributors to the Teouma avifauna, with the human-introduced Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus accounting for 15% MNI and present in all sampled layers. There are two species of megapodes (~10% of MNI ), with the extant Vanuatu Megapode Megapodius layardi most abundant and represented at all levels in the deposits. A substantially larger extinct megapode, Mwalau walterlinii, n. gen., n. sp., is present only in the Lapita midden area, where it is relatively rare. This extinct species was larger than all extant megapodes but smaller than the extinct Progura gallinacea from Australia, with proportions most similar to those of Alectura, and was a volant bird. The remaining significant faunal component is rails, with four species present, of which Porphyrio melanotus was the most abundant. Rare but notable records include an undescribed large rail; a parrot, Eclectus sp. cf. E. infectus; a hornbill, Rhyticeros sp. cf. R. plicatus; and a coucal, Centropus sp. indet., all conservatively considered likely to be conspecific with known taxa elsewhere in Melanesia.
NUMEROUS STUDIES on the archipelagos and islands of the Pacific have revealed that whenever humans first arrived, they rapidly had severe impacts on the original avifaunas, resulting in the loss of a multitude of species (Balouet and Olson 1989; Steadman 1989a, 1993, 1995, 2006a; James and Olson 1991; Olson and James 1991; Worthy 2000, 2001; Worthy and Wragg 2003, 2008; Wragg and Worthy 2006; Karels et al. 2008). Because...