General characteristics
Rapa (40 km², maximum altitude 630 m) is in the Austral (or Tubuai) Islands of French Polynesia (see also EBAs 211-214). Vegetation includes tropical and secondary rain forest, and savanna which develops as a result of fires and the browsing of goats and cattle. Rapa is a Secondary Area because of its single-island endemic, Rapa Fruit-dove Ptilinopus huttoni, which is confined to less than 3 km² of the remaining fragmented forest, and was estimated to number 274 birds in 1989-1990. The main threat to it is further loss and degradation of habitat, although hunting and predation by cats and/or rats may also have an effect (Thibault and Varney 1991). The species is classified as threatened (Vulnerable) on account of its tiny range and population.

Secondary area A secondary area is an area which supports one or more restricted-range bird species, but does not qualify as an Endemic Bird Area because fewer than two species are entirely confined to it.

Citation BirdLife International 2003 BirdLife's online World Bird Database: the site for bird conservation. Version 2.0. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. Available: http://www.birdlife.org (accessed 16/4/2004)