The Bermuda towhee (''Pipilo naufragus'') is an extinct passerine of the
towhee
A towhee is any one of a number of species of birds in the genus ''Pipilo'' or ''Melozone'' within the family Passerellidae (which also includes American sparrows, and juncos).
Towhees typically have longer tails than other Passerellidae. Most ...
genus ''Pipilo'' that was confined to
Bermuda
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, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
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. It was a large member of the genus and closely related to the
eastern towhee
The eastern towhee (''Pipilo erythrophthalmus'') is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been under debate in recent decades, and formerly this bird and the spotted towhee were considered a single species, the rufous-sided t ...
. The scientific description was in 2012, based on Pleistocene and Holocene remains from
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...
cave deposits. 38 bones from at least five individuals are known.
An old travel report by
William Strachey
William Strachey (4 April 1572 – buried 21 June 1621) was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America. He is best remembered today as the eye-witness reporter of ...
who was shipwrecked on Bermuda from 1609 to 1610 might refer to this species. He wrote in 1625:
References
*Olson, Storrs L.; Wingate, David B. (2012). "A new species of towhee (Aves: Emberizidae: Pipilo) from Quaternary deposits on Bermuda". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 125 (1): 85–96.
*Olson, Storrs L.; Hearty, Paul J. (2009). "A Sustained +21 m Sea-Level Highstand during MIS 11 (400 Ka): Direct Fossil and Sedimentary Evidence from Bermuda". Quaternary Science Reviews, 28(3-4): 271-285
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4892659
Extinct animals of North America
Pipilo
Bird extinctions since 1500
Fossil taxa described in 2012
Birds described in 2012
Birds of Bermuda
Extinct birds of Atlantic islands
Taxa named by David B. Wingate
Late Quaternary prehistoric birds