''Pomarea'' is a genus of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s in the monarch flycatcher family

Monarchidae The monarchs or monarch flycatchers (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and Grallina, magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivore, insectivorous songbirds with l ...

. The genus is restricted to the islands of

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

. The monarchs of this genus are around 15–19 cm long and most have

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

plumage.

Taxonomy and systematics

Extant species

The genus ''Pomarea'' contains six extant species, including one possible extinct: *

Rarotonga monarch The Rarotonga monarch (''Pomarea dimidiata''), also known as the Rarotonga flycatcher or Kākerōri, is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is Endemism, endemic to Rarotonga, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, and has been I ...

(''Pomarea dimidiata'') *

Tahiti monarch The Tahiti monarch (''Pomarea nigra''), or Tahiti flycatcher, is a rare species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family. It is endemic to Tahiti in French Polynesia. There are between 25 and 100 individuals remaining with an increasing populat ...

(''Pomarea nigra'') *

Marquesan monarch The Marquesan monarch (''Pomarea mendozae'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to French Polynesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtr ...

(''Pomarea mendozae'') *

Ua Pou monarch The Ua Pou monarch (''Pomarea mira'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae, endemic to the French Polynesian island of Ua Pou. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane ...

(''Pomarea mira'') (Possibly extinct) *

Iphis monarch The Iphis monarch (''Pomarea iphis''), or Ua Huka flycatcher, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to French Polynesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland ...

(''Pomarea iphis'') * Fatu Hiva monarch (''Pomarea whitneyi'')

Extinct species

* †

Maupiti monarch The Maupiti monarch (''Pomarea maupitiensis'') was a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It was Endemism, endemic to the island of Maupiti in the Society Islands (French Polynesia). The Maupiti monarch became extinct shortly after the typ ...

(''Pomarea maupitiensis'') * †

Nuku Hiva monarch The Nuku Hiva monarch (''Pomarea nukuhivae''), or Nukuhiva flycatcher, was a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It was endemic to French Polynesia. Its natural habitats were subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tr ...

(''Pomarea nukuhivae'') * † Eiao monarch (''Pomarea fluxa'')

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Pomarea'': * Bougainville monarch (as ''Pomarea erythrosticta'') * Chestnut-bellied monarch (ugiensis) (as ''Pomarea ugiensis'')

Status

The genus is highly threatened, with three of the six remaining species listed as

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

, one

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

and two vulnerable. Three species have already become

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

. The principal threat to all these species is predation by the introduced

black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

References

Bird genera Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Monarchidae-stub