Chatham tomtit

Chatham tomtit

Nationally Endangered (NZ TCS)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Petroicidae
Genus: Petroica
Species: P. macrocephala
Subspecies: P. m. chathamensis
Trinomial name
Petroica macrocephala chathamensis
(CA Fleming, 1950)

The Chatham tomtit (Petroica macrocephala chathamensis) is a subspecies of tomtit found on some of the smaller islands of New Zealand. It is most similar in plumage to the South Island tomtit, the nominate subspecies.[2] The New Zealand government is implementing a plan to help this species and other bird species recover.[3] The holotype is in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[4]

Distribution

The Chatham tomtit has been extinct on Chatham Island since the 1970s. This subspecies now has a population of about 1,000 birds and is currently restricted to the rat-free islands of Rangatira, Mangere and Pitt.[5]

References

  1. Terranature.org
  2. Govt.nz
  3. Govt.nz
  4. "Petroica macrocephala chathamensis; holotype". Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  5. chathams.co.nz Archived May 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.