Pacific robin
Small red-breasted robin of southwestern Pacific islands.
The Pacific robin (Petroica pusilla) is a small passerine bird in the genus Petroica, found across Melanesia and Polynesia. It is one of several red-breasted Australasian robins and was long considered the same species as the scarlet robin of Australia until a split in 1999. Its thirteen subspecies show considerable variation in plumage, foraging, and habitat.
- Scientific name
- Petroica pusilla
- Length
- 11.5–13.5 cm
- Weight
- 9–11 g
- IUCN status
- Least concern
- Distribution
- Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa
- Clutch size
- 2–4 eggs
Lore & Background
The Pacific robin was originally described by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789 from a collection on Norfolk Island. It was considered conspecific with the scarlet robin until 1999, when Schodde and Mason split them. The Norfolk robin was later recognized as a distinct species in 2015. The nominate subspecies from Samoa was described by American naturalist Titian Peale in 1848. The generic name Petroica comes from Ancient Greek for 'stone' and 'home', and the specific name pusilla means 'very small' in Latin.
Reader's Guide
The Pacific robin is significant as a representative of the Australasian robin family Petroicidae, which molecular research places as an early offshoot of the Passerida. Its many subspecies display notable variation in plumage and behavior, making it a useful subject for studies of island evolution. Though not globally threatened, some subspecies face local habitat loss. The species is parasitized by fan-tailed cuckoos where they co-occur. Its fossil record shows it once lived in Tonga but is now extinct there.
Did You Know?
- The Pacific robin was originally described from a collection on Norfolk Island by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789.
- It was split from the scarlet robin in 1999 and from the Norfolk robin in 2015.
- Males of one subspecies on Makira have two different plumage morphs, including one with an all rufous-brown head.
- A fossil found on Ha'apai in Tonga shows the species once occurred there but is now extinct.
More in Birds of the Pacific Ocean 1-24
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