Endemic Animals of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

The Inaccessible Island rail (Laterallus rogersi) is a small secretive bird native to the isolated island in the south Atlantic. It is the smallest extant flightless bird in the world. The species was described by physician Percy Lowe in 1923 but had first come to the attention of scientists 50 years earlier. Less

The Tristan thrush (Turdus eremita ), also known as the starchy, is a species of bird in the thrush family that is endemic to the British overseas territories of the isolated Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean. Less

The Ascension frigatebird (Fregata aquila ) is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae which breeds on Boatswain Bird Island and Ascension Island in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.The Ascension frigatebird is a large lightly built seabird with brownish-black plumage and a deeply forked tail. It has a wingspan of around 2 m (6.6 ft). The male has a striking red gular sac which he inflates to attract a mate. The female is slightly larger than t ...
he male and has a brown breast-band and sometimes a white belly. They feed on fish taken in flight from the ocean's surface (mostly flying fish), and sometimes indulge in kleptoparasitism, harassing other birds to force them to regurgitate their food. Less

The Saint Helena plover (Charadrius sanctaehelenae ), locally known as the wirebird due to its thin legs, is a small wader endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the mid-Atlantic. The bird is similar in appearance to Kittlitz's plover and the Madagascar plover, but a little larger and an absence of chamois coloring. It is the national bird of St Helena and has been depicted on the country's coins. Populations in general have been declining. ...
Threats include predation by cats, the introduction of the common myna, deforestation, off-road vehicle use, the Saint Helena Airport and a projected windfarm. In 2016, the population had recovered to about 560 mature individuals, from a previous minimum of less than 200 in 2006; consequently, the species was downlisted to Vulnerable from its previous assessment of Critically Endangered. Less

The Gough moorhen (Gallinula comeri ) is a medium-sized, almost flightless bird that is similar to the common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus ), but is smaller, stockier, and has shorter wings. The bird has a distinctive yellow-tipped red bill and red frontal shield. Its first account was written in 1888 by the polar explorer George Comer, whom the specific name comeri commemorates. This bird is found only on two remote islands in the South ...
Atlantic.The Gough moorhen was originally endemic to Gough Island, but in 1956 was introduced to Tristan da Cunha, an island in the same archipelago which was formerly home of the now extinct Tristan moorhen (Galinula nesiotis ). On the basis of DNA sequencing of both recently collected and historical material from both of the archipelago's moorhen species, Groenenberg et al (2008) concluded that the genetic distances between G. nesiotis and G. comeri are of at least the same size as those found between subspecies of common moorhen (G. chloropus ) in the literature. They propose that the extinct moorhen of Tristan (G. nesiotis ) and the moorhens that live on Gough and Tristan today (G. comeri ) be regarded as subspecies.On Gough Island, it appears that the bird's future is secure with the island being a nature reserve and a World Heritage Site. In the mid-1990s, it was estimated that 2,500 breeding pairs existed on Gough Island. Gough Island is considered the least disturbed, major, cool-temperate island ecosystem in the South Atlantic Ocean and hosts one of the most important sea-bird colonies in the world, containing 54 bird species, 22 breeding species, and four threatened species. However, on Tristan da Cunha, it is not classified as a native species and therefore is not protected. Less

Wilkins's finch (Nesospiza wilkinsi ), also known as Wilkins's bunting or the grosbeak bunting, is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is restricted to Inaccessible Island (subspecies dunnei ) and Nightingale Island (nominate wilkinsi ) of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland and subantarctic grassland.The ...
common name and Latin binomial commemorate the Australian polar explorer and ornithologist Captain Sir George Hubert Wilkins. Less

The Gough finch (Rowettia goughensis ) or Gough bunting, is a critically endangered species of songbird. Less

Promachoteuthis sulcus is a species of promachoteuthid squid. It is distinguished from related taxa on the basis of several morphological features: nuchal fusion between the head and mantle, much larger size of arm suckers compared to club suckers, greater width of tentacle base than arm base, a recessed club base, and the presence of an aboral tentacle groove.Promachoteuthis sulcus is known from a single specimen caught by the German research ...
vessel R/V Walther Herwig in an open net off Tristan da Cunha, southern Atlantic Ocean (36°49′S 12°17′W / 36.817°S 12.283°W / -36.817; -12.283 (Promachoteuthis sulcus (only specimen caught))), at a depth of 1,750–2,000 m (5,740–6,560 ft). Less

Conus jourdani is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.Like all species within the genus Conus, these snails are predatory and venomous. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all. Less