_Aplonis opaca ponapensis_ Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Tori, 7,
1931, p. 109. (Type locality, Ponapé.)
_Calornis columbina_ Pelzeln, Reise "Novara," Vögel, 1865, pp. 88,
162 (Puynipet).
_Calornis kittlitzi_ Finsch and Hartlaub (part), Fauna
Centralpolynesiens, 1867, p. 109 (Puynipet); Schmeltz and Krause
(part), Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 298 (Ponapé).
_Calornis opaca_ Gray (part), Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 27
(Seniavin = Ponapé).
_Calornis pacificus_ Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12,
1876, pp. 17, 32 (Ponapé); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877
(1878), p. 779 (Ponapé); _idem_ (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880,
p. 289 (Ponapé); _idem_, (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p.
576 (Ponapé).
_Calornis pacifica_ Finsch, Ibis, 1881, p. 115 (Ponapé); _idem_,
(part), Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien. 1884, p. 49 (Ponapé).
_Aplonis kittlitzi_ Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 13,
1890, p. 136 (Ponapé); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool.
Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 44 (Ponapé); Bolau
(part), Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 62 (Ponapé);
Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers., 1899, p. 122 (Ponapé); Matschie (part),
Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ponapé); Takatsukasa and Kuroda
(part), Tori, 1, 1915, p. 55 (Ponapé).
_Lamprocorax kittlitzi_ Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 542
(Ponapé).
_Aplonis opaca_ Wetmore (part), in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull.
Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 219 (Ponapé); Mayr. Proc. 6th
Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p. 204 (Ponapé).
A_plonis kittlitzi kittlitzi_ Momiyama (part), Tori, 2, 1920, p. 1
(Ponapé).
_Aplonis opaca opaca_ Momiyama (part), Birds Micronesia, 1922, p.
12 (Ponapé); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922,
p. 70 (Ponapé).
_Aplonis opaca ponapensis_ Yamashina, Tori, 7, 1932, p. 394
(Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 170 (Ponapé).
_Aplonis opaca ponapensis_ Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942,
p. 188 (Ponapé).
_Aplonis opacus ponapensis_ Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945,
p. 297 (Ponapé).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé.
_Characters._--Adult: Resembles _A. o. opacus_, but larger with a
longer bill and richer green luster on the back and breast.
Immature: Resembles immature of _A. o. opacus_, but underparts
more brightly streaked but still dingy in appearance.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 45.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 47 (31 males, 16 females), as
follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Ponapé, 1 (Feb. 11); AMNH--Ponapé,
46 (Nov., Dec.).
_Nesting._--Yamashina (1932a:394) reports the taking of an egg on
August 2, 1931, and two eggs on August 30, 1931, at Ponapé. Coultas
(field notes) writes that the nests of these birds are hidden in
the tops of the tree-ferns and in holes in the trees. The natives
told him that the starling lays two eggs.
_Molt._--Most of the adult specimens taken by Coultas in November
and December, 1931, are in molting plumage.
_Remarks._--Coultas (field notes) writes that the starling is a common
bird at Ponapé. He found it in flocks of from two to 12 or more birds.
As at Kusaie he noted more birds in the immature plumage than in the
adult plumage at Ponapé. The starling occurs in large numbers even
though the people of the island hunt this bird persistently for part of
their food supply.
The Micronesian Starling at Palau has the longest wing of any of the
subspecies of _Aplonis opacus_. It most closely resembles _A. o.
opacus_; both of these subspecies have only a faint amount of
bronzy-green luster of the feathers, and the immatures have dingy yellow
streaks on the abdomen.
=Aplonis opacus angus= Momiyama