Christmas sandpiper
| Christmas sandpiper | |
|---|---|
| 1907 illustration by George Edward Lodge | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Prosobonia |
| Species: | †P. cancellata
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Prosobonia cancellata (JF Gmelin, 1789)
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Tringa cancellata Gmelin, 1789 | |
The Christmas sandpiper or Kiritimati sandpiper (Prosobonia cancellata) is an extinct species of small shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It became extinct some time in the first half of the 19th century. It was endemic to Christmas Island (now called Kiritimati), since 1919 a part of Kiribati. It is known solely from a single contemporaneous illustration (by William Wade Ellis), and a description by William Anderson, both made during the third circumnavigation voyage commanded by Captain James Cook, which visited the atoll of Christmas Island between 24 December 1777 and 2 January 1778.