Huahine gull

The Huahine gull^[1] (Chroicocephalus utunui), also known as the Society Islands gull,^[2] is an extinct bird, a species of gull of which subfossil bones were found at the Fa'ahia archeological site on Huahine, in the Society Islands of French Polynesia.

Huahine gull Temporal range: Late Holocene
Conservation status
Extinct
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Laridae
Genus:	Chroicocephalus
Species:	†C. utunui
Binomial name
†Chroicocephalus utunui (Steadman, 2002)
Synonyms
Larus utunui

The site is an early Polynesian occupation site dating to between 700 CE and 1200 CE, containing, as well as anthropogenic material, the remains of many species of birds now either globally or locally extinct, that were killed for their flesh, bones or feathers. The gull was described (as Larus utunui) from 12 bones from two individual birds. Osteological similarities suggest that the nearest living relative of the Huahine gull is the silver gull (C. novaehollandiae), the nearest extant populations of which are in New Zealand, 3,800 km south-west of Huahine.^[3]