Gough finch

The Gough finch (Rowettia goughensis) or Gough bunting, is a critically endangered species of songbird.

Gough finch
Male on Gough Island
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Rowettia
Lowe, 1923
Species:
R. goughensis
Binomial name
Rowettia goughensis
(Clarke, WE, 1904)
Synonyms

Nesospiza goughensis (protonym)
Nesospiza jessiae

Taxonomy

The Gough finch was formally described in 1904 by the British ornithologist William Eagle Clarke from a specimen collected on Gough Island in the South Atlantic. Clarke coined the binomial name Nesospiza goughensis.[2] The Gough finch is now the only species placed in the genus Rowettia that was introduced in 1923 by the English ornithologist Percy Lowe.[3][4] The genus name was chosen to honour John Quiller Rowett, an English businessman and the sponsor of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition.[5] The Gough finch was traditionally considered to be a bunting in the family Emberizidae,[6] but molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that it is a member of the subfamily Diglossinae in the tanager family Thraupidae and is sister to a clade containing birds in the genus Melanodera.[7] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[4]

Another species of finch was described from Gough Island, Nesospiza jessiae, in 1904. This species was later identified as a juvenile of the Gough finch.[3]

Description

The Gough finch is 22 to 26 cm (8.7–10.2 in) in length and weighs 50–56 g (1.8–2.0 oz).[8]

Distribution and habitat

It is endemic to the remote Gough Island, part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, and nearby stacks, in the South Atlantic. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland and subantarctic grassland.

The immature was described as Nesospiza jessiae

Status and conservation

It was formerly classified as a Vulnerable species by the IUCN.[1] But new research has shown that its population has collapsed and it is on the verge of extinction due to the introduced population of house mice (Mus musculus), noted for its unusual aggressiveness,[9] competing with the birds for food and eating their eggs and nestlings. Consequently, it was uplisted to Critically Endangered in 2008.[1]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Rowettia goughensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. Clarke, W. Eagle (1904). "Nesospiza goughensis, n. sp". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 15: 18.
  3. Lowe, Percy R. (1923). "Notes on some land birds of the Tristan da Cunha group collected by the 'Quest' expedition". Ibis. 65 (3): 511-528 [512]. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1923.tb08110.x.
  4. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Tanagers and allies". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  5. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 338. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  6. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Volume 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 112.
  7. Burns, K.J.; Shultz, A.J.; Title, P.O.; Mason, N.A.; Barker, F.K.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2014). "Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 75: 41–77. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.02.006.
  8. Ryan, P. & Sharpe, C.J. (2017). Gough Finch (Rowettia goughensis). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/62039 on 28 March 2017).
  9. Wanless, R.M.; Angel, A.; Cuthbert, R.J.; Hilton, G.M.; Ryan, P.G. (2007). "Can predation by invasive mice drive seabird extinctions?" (PDF). Biology Letters. 3 (3): 241–244. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0120. PMC 2464706. PMID 17412667.

Further reading


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