The nightingale reed warbler (''Acrocephalus luscinius''), or Guam reed-warbler, was a songbird endemic to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

. It has not been seen since 1969.

Taxonomy and systematics

The nightingale reed warbler was described by the French zoologists Jean Quoy and Joseph Gaimard in 1832 from a specimen collected on the island of

in the western Pacific Ocean. They coined the binomial name, ''Thryothorus luscinius''. Until 2011, the Pagan reed warbler, Aguiguan reed warbler, and Saipan reed warbler were considered as subspecies of the nightingale reed warbler until split by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

Threats

The nightingale reed warbler was driven to extinction by several

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

. These included the

brown tree snake The brown tree snake (''Boiga irregularis''), also known as the brown catsnake, is an arboreal rear-fanged colubrid snake native to eastern and northern coastal Australia, eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi to Papua), Papua New Guinea, and many islands ...

which has also decimated the populations of several other bird species on Guam. Other introduced predators included rats,

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s and feral

ungulates Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, ca ...

such as

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s or

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

. An introduced plant,

ivy gourd ''Coccinia grandis'', the ivy gourd, also known as scarlet gourd, tindora and kowai fruit, is a tropical vine. It grows primarily in tropical climates and is commonly found in the Indian states, where it forms a part of the local cuisine. ''Coc ...

, destroyed the canopy of the trees that nightingale reed warblers built their nests in. Wetland destruction, fires and pesticides, as well as intensive land use for agriculture or building further reduced the available habitat.

Notes

References

Acrocephalus (bird) Birds described in 1832 ESA endangered species {{Acrocephalidae-stub