| Gough finch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male on Gough Island | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thraupidae |
| Genus: | Rowettia Lowe, 1923 |
| Species: | R. goughensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Rowettia goughensis (Clarke, WE, 1904) | |
 | |
| Synonyms | |
Nesospiza goughensis (protonym) | |
TheGough finch (Rowettia goughensis) orGough bunting, is a critically endangeredspecies ofsongbird.
The Gough finch wasformally described in 1904 by the British ornithologistWilliam Eagle Clarke from a specimen collected onGough Island in the South Atlantic. Clarke coined thebinomial nameNesospiza goughensis.[2] The Gough finch is now the only species placed in the genusRowettia that was introduced in 1923 by the English ornithologistPercy Lowe.[3][4] The genus name was chosen to honourJohn Quiller Rowett, an English businessman and the sponsor of theShackleton–Rowett Expedition.[5] The Gough finch was traditionally considered to be a bunting in the familyEmberizidae,[6] butmolecular phylogenetic studies have shown that it is a member of thesubfamily Diglossinae in the tanager familyThraupidae and issister to a clade containing birds in the genusMelanodera.[7] The species ismonotypic: nosubspecies are recognised.[4]
Another species of finch was described from Gough Island,Nesospiza jessiae, in 1904. This species was later identified as a juvenile of the Gough finch.[3]
The Gough finch is 22 to 26 cm (8.7–10.2 in) in length and weighs 50–56 g (1.8–2.0 oz).[8]
It isendemic to the remoteGough Island, part of theBritish overseas territory ofSaint Helena, and nearby stacks, in the South Atlantic. Its naturalhabitats are temperateshrubland and subantarcticgrassland.
It was formerly classified as aVulnerable species by theIUCN.[1] But new research has shown that its population has collapsed and it is on the verge ofextinction due to the introduced population ofhouse mice (Mus musculus), noted for its unusual aggressiveness,[9] competing with the birds for food and eating theireggs and nestlings. Consequently, it was uplisted toCritically Endangered in 2008.[1]
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