Chatham Islands Fernbird (Poodytes rufescens)
Posted on 31 December, 1900 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1900
Comments:
This species was formerly found on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, but is thought to have gone Extinct around 1892 when the last specimen was collected. Habitat destruction and invasive species were probably the major causes.
Habitat:
It occupied low brushland.
Causes:
It presumably declined to extinction due to habitat loss caused by burning and overgrazing by introduced goats and rabbits, and to predation by cats (Fleming 1939).
Distribution:
Bowdleria rufescens was endemic to Pitt and Mangere Islands in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand (Greenway 1967). It is thought to have gone extinct soon after the last specimen was taken in 1892 (Tennyson and Martinson 2006).