Malden Island importance as a protected area for breeding seabirds. The island is designated as the "Malden Island Wildlife Sanctuary". In 2014 the Kiribati government established a fishing exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Islands (Caroline (commonly called Millennium), Flint, Vostok, Malden, and Starbuck). Malden Island is located south of the equator, south of Honolulu, Hawaii, and more than west of the coast of South America. The nearest land is uninhabited Starbuck Island, to the southwest. The closest inhabited place is Tongareva (Penrhyn Island), to the southwest. The nearest airport is on Kiritimati (Christmas Island), to the northwest. Other nearby
Kiritimati hypothetical taxa, as does biogeography due to its remote location. At least one, possibly several "Gallirallus" and/or "Porzana" rails make the most likely candidates, given their former presence in the region and that conditions on Kiritimati would seem well suited. Perhaps a "Todiramphus" kingfisher was also present; such a bird would probably have belonged to the sacred kingfisher ("T. sanctus") group as that species today occurs as a vagrant in Micronesia, and related forms are resident in southeastern Polynesia. These birds would have fallen victim to the Polynesian rat and, in the case of the rails which would have almost