Bonin Grosbeak (Carpodacus ferreorostris)
Posted on 31 December, 1828 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1828
Comments:
This species was known from Japan's Ogasawara Islands, but it is now Extinct and has not been certainly reported since 1828. Forest destruction and predation by introduced species are thought to have been responsible.
Habitat:
Nothing is known of its ecology (Morioka 1992) apart from Kittlitz's description (Greenway 1967), "this bird lives on Bonin-sima, alone or in pairs, in the forest near the coast. It is not common but likes to hide, although of a phlegmatic nature and not shy. Usually it is seen running on the ground, only seldom high in the trees."
Causes:
Its extinction likely resulted from habitat destruction and the introduction of cats and rats (Stattersfield et al. 1998, Hume 2017).
Distribution:
Carpodacus ferreorostris is an Extinct taxon only known from specimens collected in 1827 and 1828 on Chichi-jima, Ogasawara-shoto (Peel Island, Bonin), Japan (Brazil 1991). It could not be found on Peel by Simpson in 1854, and rumours that it may have survived until 1890, when it was reported to Holst by locals (Morioka 1992), were never substantiated (Brazil 1991).