The Huahine starling is known only by a subfossil tarsometatarsus unearthed in 1984 by American archaeologist and anthropologist Yosihiko H. Sinoto of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum.

It was found at the archaeological site of Fa'ahia in the north of Huahine and scientifically described by David Steadman in 1989.

The find of the Huahine starling bone is considered important in paleornithological circles because it has expanded our knowledge of the genus Aplonis and its biogeographical history.

According to David Steadman it is possible that the 1774 painting by Georg Forster which depicts a mysterious bird from the island of Raiatea (formerly known as Ulieta) is not of a thrush or a honeyeater, as previously hypothesised, but of a relative of the Huahine starling.

This suggests that Aplonis starlings may once have had a more extensive range in the Society Islands.