_Aplonis opaca anga_ Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 6. (Type
locality, Toroas, Ruk Island.)
_Lamproth[ornis] opaca_ Kittlitz (part), Observ. Zool., in Lutké,
Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 297 (Lougounor = Lukunor).
_Lamprotornis columbinus_ Bonaparte (part), Consp. Avium, 1, 1850,
p. 417 (Carolinen = Lukunor?).
_Lamprotornis columbina_ Hartlaub (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1854,
p. 168 (Carolinen = Lukunor?).
_Calornis kittlitzi_ Hartlaub and Finsch (part), Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1872, pp. 89, 100 (Mackenzie = Ulithi?); Finsch (part),
Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 23 (Mackenzie = Ulithi?);
Schmeltz and Krause (part), Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881,
pp. 298, 330, 353 (Mortlock, Nukuor, Ruk).
_Calornis pacificus_ Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8,
1875, p. 23 (Mackenzie = Ulithi?); _idem_ (part), Journ. f.
Ornith., 1880, p. 290 (Ruck, Mortlocks); _idem_ (part), Proc.
Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 576 (Ruk); _idem_ (part), Ibis, 1881,
p. 111 (Ruk).
_Calornis pacifica_ Finsch (part), Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884,
p. 49 (Rukgruppe).
_Aplonis kittlitzi_ Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 13,
1890, p. 136 (Ruk, Lugunor); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber.
Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 44 (Ruk or
Luganor, Nukuor); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat.
Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 216 (Ruk, Nukuor, Luganor); Hartert
(part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 59 (Ruk, Luganor); _idem_,
Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 6 (Ruk); Matschie (part), Journ. f.
Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ruck); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori,
1, 1915, p. 55 (Ruk).
_Lamprocorax kittlitzi_ Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 542
(Ruk, Luganor).
_Aplonis opaca_ Wetmore (part), in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull.
Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 219 (Truk).
_Aplonis kittlitzi kittlitzi_ Momiyama (part), Tori, 2, 1920, p. 1
(Truk, Wolea).
_Aplonis opaca anga_ Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922,
p. 71 (?Luganor or Ruk, ?Nukuor, Wolea or Oleai); Takatsukasa and
Yamashina, Tori, 32, 1930, p. 109 (Ruk); Mathews, Syst. Avium
Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 847 (Ruk); Hand-list Japanese Birds,
rev., 1932, p. 170 (Uluthi, Feys, Wolea, Ifalik, Faraulep,
Lamotrek, Truk, Nukuoro).
_Aplornis apaca anga_ Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi,
43, 1931, p. 458 (Truk?); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942,
p. 188 (Uluthi, Feys, Wolea, Ifalik, Faraulep, Lamotrek, Truk,
Nukuoro).
_Aplonis opacus angus_ Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 297
(Truk and western Carolines); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol.
107, no. 15, 1948, pp. 70, 71 (Ulithi Truk).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ulithi, Fais,
Wolea, Ifalik, Faraulep, Lamotrek, Truk, Nukuoro, Lukunor.
_Characters._--Adult: Resembles _A. o. opacus_, but larger and
with bill less deep and feathers with distinct greenish luster
both on the upper parts and the lower parts. Female smaller.
Immature: Resembles immature of _A. o. opacus_, but underparts
streaked with brighter, buffy-yellow coloring.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 45.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 38 (24 males, 14 females), as
follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Ulithi, 27 (Aug. 15, 16, 19, 20,
21, 22)--Truk, 2 (Feb. 16, Dec. 13); AMNH--Truk, 9 (Jan. 29, Feb.
1, 28, June 14, Oct. 9, 14).
_Nesting._--Hartert (1900:6) reports that at Truk nests of the
starling were obtained by Owston's Japanese collectors from May to
July and one in March. Nests contained from one to three eggs each.
_Molt._--Adult birds taken by the NAMRU2 party at Ulithi in August
are in molting plumage.
_Food habits._--The stomachs of starlings obtained in August at
Ulithi contained pieces of fruit and seeds. Twelve stomachs
contained between one and three cc. of these foods. Papaya and
small berries were the foods most frequently observed in the
stomachs.
_Remarks._--The Micronesian Starling of the central and western
Carolines is one of the few land birds which lives on both the "high"
islands and the "low" coral islands in Micronesia. It is found on
several of the coral atolls in the Carolines. In the Hand-list of
Japanese Birds (Hachisuka _et al._, 1932:170), the birds at Ulithi and
Fais are placed in the subspecies _A. o. angus_, although these islands
are only a short distance from Yap, at which place another subspecies,
_A. o. kurodai_, occurs. Specimens from Yap are not available for
comparison. Specimens from Ulithi and from Truk closely resemble one
another.
The NAMRU2 party found the starling to be numerous at Truk and at Ulithi
in 1945. At both places the natives make use of the birds as food. At
Truk, McElroy found a larger number of birds in immature plumage than
that of birds in adult plumage. Similar observations have been made at
several other islands in Micronesia.
At Ulithi, the NAMRU2 party found the starling at all islands in the
atoll visited in 1945. The bird was more numerous at the islands of
Potangeras and Mangejang, and less numerous at the island of Losiep; the
former two islands were occupied--at the time of the visit in 1945--by
service personnel and the vegetation was disturbed, whereas Losiep was
uninhabited and rarely visited by people. I attribute the smaller
population of starlings at Losiep to the fact that on this island the
large monitor lizard, _Varanus indicus_, was numerous while at
Potangeras and Mangejang it was apparently entirely absent. These large
lizards depend principally on the birds, rodents, and insects for their
food supply. At Potangeras the rat _Rattus exulans_ was exceedingly
numerous, while at Losiep no sign of rodents was found nor were any
taken in traps set during the daytime.
=Aplonis opacus kurodai= Momiyama