Narcondam Hornbill Rhyticeros narcondami Scientific name definitions

The Narcondam Hornbill is the smallest Rhyticeros hornbill, and it has the smallest global range among hornbills. It is restricted to Narcondam Island (area: 6.8 km²) in the middle of the Andaman Sea. From an evolutionary perspective, it's an interesting species as its closest extant relative, the Blyth's Hornbill (R. plicatus), is found across Wallace's line in the Moluccas, New Guinea, and the Solomon and Bismarck archipelagos (1 Gonzalez, J.-C. T., B. C. Sheldon, N. J. Collar, and J. A. Tobias (2013). A comprehensive molecular phylogeny for the hornbills (Aves: Bucerotidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 67(2):468–483. Close ). Currently, the species occurs in very high densities of more than 150 birds per km², which is among the highest reported densities of hornbills anywhere in the world (2 Raman, T. R. S., D. Mudappa, T. Khan, U. Mistry, A. Saxena, K. Varma, N. Ekka, J. Lenin, and R. Whitaker (2013). An expedition to the Narcondams: observations of the marine and terrestrial fauna including the island-endemic hornbill. Current Science 105:346–360. Close , 3 Manchi, S. (2017). Status, ecology and conservation of Narcondam Hornbill Aceros narcondami on the Narcondam Island, India. Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Close , 4 Naniwadekar R., A. Gopal, N. Page, S. Ghuman, V. Ramachandran, and J. Joshi (2020). Large frugivores matter more on an island: insights from island-mainland comparison of plant-frugivore communities. bioRxiv, 2020.07.31.229278. Close ). Like other forest-dwelling hornbills, the bulk of the diet of the hornbill is fruits. The species is the most abundant frugivore on the island and was found to play a key role in seed dispersal by dispersing seeds of a diverse array of plant species thereby contributing to maintaining the tree diversity on the island (4 Naniwadekar R., A. Gopal, N. Page, S. Ghuman, V. Ramachandran, and J. Joshi (2020). Large frugivores matter more on an island: insights from island-mainland comparison of plant-frugivore communities. bioRxiv, 2020.07.31.229278. Close ). It is one of the very few island hornbill species whose populations have not shown any declines in the recent past. In the past, there were reported pressures on hornbill populations from hunting (5 Sankaran, R. (2000). Narcondam Hornbill Aceros narcondami. In A study on the ecology, status and conservation perspectives of certain rare endemic avifauna of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (L. Vijayan, R. Sankaran, K. Sivakumar, and V. Murugan, Editors), Report submitted to Salim Ali Centre for ornithology and natural History, Coimbatore, India. Coimbatore, India. pp. 57–66 Close ), which are now minimal (3 Manchi, S. (2017). Status, ecology and conservation of Narcondam Hornbill Aceros narcondami on the Narcondam Island, India. Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Close , 4 Naniwadekar R., A. Gopal, N. Page, S. Ghuman, V. Ramachandran, and J. Joshi (2020). Large frugivores matter more on an island: insights from island-mainland comparison of plant-frugivore communities. bioRxiv, 2020.07.31.229278. Close ). Browsing by feral goats was identified as a potential threat to the hornbill habitat by impacting tree regeneration (5 Sankaran, R. (2000). Narcondam Hornbill Aceros narcondami. In A study on the ecology, status and conservation perspectives of certain rare endemic avifauna of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (L. Vijayan, R. Sankaran, K. Sivakumar, and V. Murugan, Editors), Report submitted to Salim Ali Centre for ornithology and natural History, Coimbatore, India. Coimbatore, India. pp. 57–66 Close ). However, there is no presence of goats on the island now (3 Manchi, S. (2017). Status, ecology and conservation of Narcondam Hornbill Aceros narcondami on the Narcondam Island, India. Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Close , 4 Naniwadekar R., A. Gopal, N. Page, S. Ghuman, V. Ramachandran, and J. Joshi (2020). Large frugivores matter more on an island: insights from island-mainland comparison of plant-frugivore communities. bioRxiv, 2020.07.31.229278. Close ). Rats have also been inadvertently introduced on the island and they are now very abundant on the island (4 Naniwadekar R., A. Gopal, N. Page, S. Ghuman, V. Ramachandran, and J. Joshi (2020). Large frugivores matter more on an island: insights from island-mainland comparison of plant-frugivore communities. bioRxiv, 2020.07.31.229278. Close ). They may pose threats to the hornbill food plant regeneration in the long term by predating on seeds and affecting the regeneration of the food plants.