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Acridotheres tristis

Manu Kavamani

Common Myna

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult on lawn, showing head & back colouring	50KB
Image:	1906 Proclamation Protecting the Minah	56KB
Sound:	Call - Rarotonga (M.Taylor)	474KB
Article:	The Myna or Ruin in Early Rarotonga Gerald McCormack, September 2005	Read

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Common Myna , Indian Myna[h], House Mynah; German Indischer Mynah, Hirtenmaina

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Manu Kavamani / Manu Teve / Pīru (RR), Manu Kavamani / Manu Kāomani (MG AK), Manu Rātaro / Manu Kavamani (AT), Manu Kavamani (MK); Other Polynesian - FIJ- Maina

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.India - Vietnam; EXOTIC EXOTIC on many islands (eg. Solomons, New Caledonia, Fiji, Cooks, Societies, New Zealand)

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, horticultural - villages - forest margins

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Biocontrol - released 1906; Serious invasive, and serious agricultural pest

KEY FEATURES: To 23cm. Body dark brown; head, neck & throat black, underparts paler brown to almost white under tail & stomach. Wings darker than body with large white patch (visible in flight); tail also dark with terminal white bar. Behind & under the eye the skin is naked & yellow. Eyes brown. Legs yellow.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Jungle Mynah (Acridotheres fuscus) lacks the yellow patch of bare skin behind the eye, has a distinctive "nasal tuft" of feathers at the base of the orange beak. Eye yellow. Legs orange.

Enlarged Image of 'Acridotheres tristis'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	P	++++	P	-	P	-	-	P

Northern Group: -
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766)
SYNONYMS: Paradisea tristis [O]; Sternus tristis

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); TETRAPODA; AVES; NEORNITHES; Passeriformes; STURNIDAE

More Information

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Biocontrol - released 1906. Comments: Recent, Naturalised.
NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Serious invasive, and serious agricultural pest. Comments: NBSAP - Te Au-o-Tonga (10 of 11 animal pests), NBSAP - Puaikura (12 of 12 animal pests), NBSAP - Mauke (9 of 10 animals), NBSAP - Atiu (1 of 4 wild pests) One of world's 100 invasive alien species [ISSG,2001].

GENERAL NOTE: Acridotheres translates as: Grasshopper hunter.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
Special Reference: Watling, D. Birds of Fiji, Tonga & Samoa. (1982) Millwood Press, Wellington, New Zealand; p104.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM03a, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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