Zoothera terrestris (Bonin Thrush)

[Melanie]

aka Kittlitz Thrush

syn: Turdus terrestris



web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~t94122sk/extinct/seki.html

last four collected by F. von Kittlitz in June 1829 at Port Lloyd, Peel Island

arboreal island forest insectivore endemic to Peel, Bonin Islands

specimens in Frankfurt, St. Petersberg, Leyden, and Vienna

disappeared after introduction of rats and cats by whalers

Zoothera terrestris is only known from four specimens (now in Frankfurt, St Petersburg, Leiden and Vienna) collected in 1828 on Ogasawara-shoto (Peel Island, Bonin), Japan. It could not be found when the island was next visited by an ornithologist, in 1889, nor subsequently. Nothing is known of the species' ecology or extinction. Presumably it was confined to forest floor, and was driven to extinction by introduced rats and cats.

www.redlist.org/search/details.php?species=23252

[Melanie]

Kittlitz's Thrush
A common bird overlooked

Peel, or Chichi jima as it is now called in Japanese, is the largest island of the Bonin Group (Ogasawara-gunto), an archipelago southeast of Japan. The islands were inhabited by a number of endemic species, including Kittlitz's Thrush Zoothera terrestris ( Kittlitz, 1830). Prior to 1827 the entire human population of Peel Island consisted of two exiles. That year the British navy vessel HMS Blossom landed on Peel. Only three years later a settlement was founded by a mixed population of English, American and Polynesian immigrants.






Kittlitz's Thrush


Ship rats
Most of our knowledge of the birds of the Bonin Islands comes from the crew of HMS Blossom, who collected various species new to science. A second important source of information was the German ornithologist Friedrich von Kittlitz, who visited the island in 1828. That year he discovered a ground thrush which had been overlooked by the English. This is somewhat surprising, since Von Kittlitz reported that it was not uncommon. He managed to obtain five specimens, the only ones ever to be collected. Two years later, as the settlement on Peel Island was founded, the Bonin Islands became a place were ships could dock for repairs. As a consequence ship rats invaded the islands and the fragile natural balance was disturbed. Since Kittlitz's Thrush built its nest on the ground, it was particularly vulnerable to the new predators. American naval expeditions reported having seen the bird in the 1850's. It has not been sighted since.


Kittlitz's Thrush
Photograph by Rosamond Purcell from Swift as a Shadow. © 1999.


The museum collection
One of the five specimens collected by Von Kittlitz is now in the National Museum of Natural History. The others were sent to the museums of Frankfurt, St. Petersburg (2) and Vienna.

[another specialist]

www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=6340&m=0

[another specialist]

Gap in nature

[Deleted]

scanned from 'Thrushes' by Peter Clement and Ren Hathaway

[another specialist]

Extinct birds : an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times : that is, within the last six or seven hundred years : to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction (1907)

[surroundx]

Mlíkovský, Jiří. (2012). Extinct and nearly extinct birds in the collections of the National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic. Journal of the National Museum (Prague), Natural History Series 181(9): 95-123. [automatic download]

[koeiyabe]

The bird was indefinitely witnessed by Tokujiro Momiyama, Japanese ornithologist, in Hahajima on February 7, 1925.

For the Scientific name, "Zoothera terrestris" is generally used all over the world, but "Cichlopasser terrestris" is normally used in Japan. A synonymy of "Zoothera terrestris" is "Cichlopasser terrestris." Its generic name hasn't been defined yet.

Here is a stamp of the bird.

www.birdtheme.org/mainlyimages/index.php?spec=3832

[koeiyabe]

"The Earth Extinct Fauna (in Japanese)" by Tadaaki Imaizumi (1986)

[Sebbe]

Mlíkovský J., Loskot V.M. (2016): Type specimens and type localities of birds (Aves) collected during Friedrich Heinrich von Kittlitz’s circumnavigation in 1826-1829. Part 1. Specimens in the collections of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St.-Petersburg, Russia. Journal of the National Museum (Prague), Natural History Series 185: 77-137

[Sebbe]

Mlíkovský J. (2016): Type specimens and type localities of birds (Aves) collected during Friedrich Heinrich von Kittlitz’s circumnavigation in 1826-1829. Part 2. Specimens in other collections. Journal of the National Museum (Prague), Natural History Series 185: 139-156.