Niue
In
addition to two extinct bird species found nowhere else, the Niue Night
Heron Nycticorax
kalavikai (Te
Papa) and the Niue Rail Gallirallus
huiatua (Te
Papa), Niue has endemic subspecies of the Polynesian Triller Lalage maculosa whitmeei
(Theme
Birds on Stamps), the Polynesian Starling Aplonis tabuensis brunnescens
(Wikipedia),
and the Purple-capped Fruit-dove Ptilinopus
porphyraceus whitmeei (Theme
Birds on Stamps).
A recently described endemic marine fish is the combtooth blenny Ecsenius niue (Zootaxa
pdf file).
The
Niuean Flat-tailed Sea Snake Pseudolaticauda
(or
Laticauda) schistorhynchus (IUCN
pdf file) is sometimes considered to be endemic.
Invertebrates restricted to Niue include a land snail Vatusila niueana (BHL),
a crab Orcovita
gracilipes (p. 3 of CaveBiology.com
pdf file), a periwinkle Cenchrites
(or Tectarius)
niuensis (Oxford
Journals), a leafhopper Empoasca
clodia (p. 8 of Bishop
Museum pdf file), a weevil Elytrurus niuei (p.
3 of UH
Manoa pdf file), a scale insect Paracoccus niuensis
(ScaleNet),
and an ostracod crustacean Dantya
ferox (CaveBiology.com
pdf file).
A screwpine Pandanus
niueensis (Kew)
has been described from Niue and the form of Psychotria insularum
(Pflanzenwelt
Polynesiens) may be different than that occurring elsewhere.
Niue is part of the Tongan Tropical Moist Forests ecoregion (EoE). For more information
on the natural history of Niue see the "Niue National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan" (CBD
pdf file).