San Cristóbal Vermilion Flycatcher
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| San Cristóbal Vermilion Flycatcher | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Pyrocephalus rubinus dubius Gould, 1839 |
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The San Cristóbal Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus dubius) is an extremely rare or possibly extinct subspecies of the Vermilion Flycatcher. It is or was endemic to San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos Islands. The taxon was discovered during Charles Darwin's Galapagos voyage in 1835 and described as full species Pyrocephalus dubius by John Gould in 1839.
[edit] Description
The San Cristóbal Vermilion Flycatcher reaches a length between 10.8 and 11 cm. The crown of the male is glossy dark vermilion red. The underparts are pale red shading to a brighter hue at the throat and a more intensive red at the breast. The chin is reddish shading to white. The lores, the ear coverts and the upperparts are generally dark brown.
[edit] Status
During a survey in 1929 ornithologist Albert Kenrick Fisher found this bird rather abundant all along the arid western coast to the settlement of Progreso in the highlands. During the next sixty years invasive plants replaced a large part of the endemic vegetation which led to the decline of the insects which were depended on the endemic plants. When David and Lee Steadman visited San Cristobal Island in the 1980s they described the San Cristóbal Vermilion Flycatcher as extremely rare. Finally, a six-month expedition in 1998, failed to find any birds. Reasons for the decline of the San Cristóbal Vermilion Flycatcher might have been the vanishing of the food insects, avian pox, and the avian malaria.
[edit] References
- David W. Steadman & Steven Zousmer: Galapagos: Discovery on Darwin's Islands. Smithsonian Institution Press., 1988, ISBN 0874748828
- Robert Ridgway: Descriptions of twenty-two new species of birds from the Galapagos Islands Online 1894
- Martin Wikelski, Johannes Foufopoulos, Hernan Vargas & Howard Snell: Galápagos Birds and Diseases: Invasive Pathogens as Threats for Island Species (PDF fultext, 384 KB) 2004
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