Niue
In
addition to two extinct bird species found nowhere else, the Niue Night
Heron Nycticorax
kalavikai (Te
Papa) (BHL)
and the Niue Rail Gallirallus
huiatua (Te
Papa) (BHL),
Niue has endemic subspecies of the Polynesian Triller Lalage maculosa whitmeei
(flickr) (iNaturalist),
the Polynesian Starling Aplonis
tabuensis brunnescens (BHL),
and the Purple-capped Fruit-dove Ptilinopus
porphyraceus whitmeei (eBird) (Theme
Birds on Stamps).
Endemic marine fishes include the Niue Blenny Ecsenius niue (Te
Papa) (ResearchGate)
and the Star-spangled Goby Kelloggella
avaiki (FishBase)
(Oxford WM).
The
Niuean Flat-tailed Sea Snake Laticauda schistorhynchus (IUCN)
(iNaturalist)
is sometimes considered to be endemic.
Insects restricted to Niue include a butterfly discovered
in 2009, the Niue Blue Nacaduba
niueensis (iNaturalist) (Internet
Niue WM). Other endemic insects include a rattlebox
moth Utetheisa maddisoni
(BHL),
the leafhoppers Kybos (or Empoasca)
clodia (p. 8 of Bishop
Museum WM pdf) (GBIF) and Empoasca niuensis (Google
Books), a planthopper Macrovanua
(or Vanua) angusta (BHL),
a spider beetle Serianotus rugosus (p. 10 of BioNames WM pdf), a
lined flat bark beetle Rhinolaemus
niueensis (p. 7 of Univ.
Nebraska pdf),
a weevil Elytrurus
niuei (GBIF)
(PaDIL), and a scale insect Paracoccus
niuensis
(ScaleNet).
Other
endemic invertebrates include a land snail Vatusila niueana (BHL),
a crab Orcovita
gracilipes (GBIF)
(p. 9 of Raffles Bulletin pdf) (p. 3 of CaveBiology.com WM
pdf), a
cave-dwelling crustacean Pugiodactylus
agartthus (cIMeC.ro),
an ostracod crustacean Dantya
ferox (BHL),
and a
periwinkle Cenchritis
(or Tectarius)
niuensis (Oxford pdf).
A recently described orchid Dendrobium niueense (GBIF) (POWO) is known only from Niue. Screwpines described from Niue but usually considered synonyms of the more widespread
Pandanus tectorius
(POWO)
include
Pandanus
niueensis (JSTOR), Pandanus paogo (GBIF),
and Pandanus yunckeri (GBIF).
The form of Psychotria
insularum
(Smithsonian)
may be different than that occurring elsewhere (p. 3 of SPREP WM
pdf).
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) and for marine species (National
Geographic pdf).