| Floreana Mockingbird | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Mimidae |
| Genus: | Mimus |
| Species: | N. trifasciatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Mimus trifasciatus (Gould, 1837) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Nesomimus trifasciatus |
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The Floreana Mockingbird or Charles Mockingbird (Mimus trifasciatus) is a bird species in the family Mimidae.
It is endemic to Floreana, one of the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador; at present it only occurs on offshore islets however. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
Formerly classified as an Endangered species by the IUCN,[1] recent research shows that its numbers are decreasing more and more rapidly, and it is on the brink of extinction. It is consequently uplisted to Critically Endangered status in 2008.[2]
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Today, two small sub-populations are extant on the small satellite islets of Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana.[3] They are due to be re-introduced as a third, possibly hybridized population on Floreana (due to genetic compatibility and hybrid viability revealed through analysis of the Darwin-Fitzroy collections) [4]