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A new species of extinct starling,
Aplonis diluvialis, is described from the Fa’ahia Archaeological Site on Huahine, Society Islands, French Polynesia.
A. diluvialis was larger than any Indo-Pacific congeners except
A. atrifusca of Samoa. The only other Eastern Polynesian islands where starlings have been recorded with certainty are Rarotonga (
A. cinerascens) and Mauke (
A. mavornata). In pre-human times, however, species of
Aplonis may have occurred through much of Eastern Polynesia.