Bermuda towhee

Bermuda towhee; Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene
Conservation status
	; Extinct (1612) (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Passerellidae
Genus:	Pipilo
Species:	†P. naufragus
Binomial name
	†Pipilo naufragus; Olson & Wingate, 2012
Synonyms
	Pipilo sp. undescribed Olson & Hearty, 2009

The Bermuda towhee (Pipilo naufragus) is an extinct bird of the towhee genus Pipilo that was endemic to Bermuda.

Taxonomy

It was a large member of the genus and closely related to the eastern towhee. The scientific description was in 2012, based on Pleistocene and Holocene remains from Quaternary cave deposits. 38 bones from at least five individuals are known.

History

An old travel report by William Strachey who was shipwrecked on Bermuda from 1609 to 1610 might refer to that species. He wrote in 1625:

Sparrowes fat and plumpe like a Bunting, bigger then ours.^[2]

The exact cause for its extinction is unknown, but it most definitely became extinct soon after human arrival to Bermuda in the early 1600s. Its decline is thought to have been accelerated by predation from invasive species.

References

^ BirdLife International. (2022). "Pipilo naufragus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T103772527A208161346. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T103772527A208161346.en. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
^ Strachy [ = Strachey], W. 1625. A true reportory of the wracke, and redemption of Sir Thomas Gates Knight; upon, and from the ilands of the Bermudas: his comming to Virginia, and the estate of that Colonie then, and after, under the government of the Lord La Warre, July 15, 1610. Written by William Strachy [sic], Esquire. Pp. 1734–1758. in S. Purchas. Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes: contayning a history of the world in sea voyages and lande travells by Englishmen and others, vol. 4. Henrie Fetherstone. London. (Reprinted in Lefroy 1981:35).

Olson, Storrs L.; Wingate, David B. (2012). "A new species of towhee (Aves: Emberizidae: Pipilo) from Quaternary deposits on Bermuda". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 125 (1): 85–96.
Olson, Storrs L.; Hearty, Paul J. (2009). "A Sustained +21 m Sea-Level Highstand during MIS 11 (400 Ka): Direct Fossil and Sedimentary Evidence from Bermuda". Quaternary Science Reviews, 28(3-4): 271-285

[1] BirdLife International. (2022). "Pipilo naufragus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T103772527A208161346. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T103772527A208161346.en. Retrieved 24 July 2022.

[2] Strachy [ = Strachey], W. 1625. A true reportory of the wracke, and redemption of Sir Thomas Gates Knight; upon, and from the ilands of the Bermudas: his comming to Virginia, and the estate of that Colonie then, and after, under the government of the Lord La Warre, July 15, 1610. Written by William Strachy [sic], Esquire. Pp. 1734–1758. in S. Purchas. Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes: contayning a history of the world in sea voyages and lande travells by Englishmen and others, vol. 4. Henrie Fetherstone. London. (Reprinted in Lefroy 1981:35).

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