Roper River scrub robin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Roper River scrub robin |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  (disputed) |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Petroicidae |
| Genus: | Drymodes |
| Species: |
D. superciliaris
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| Subspecies: |
D. s. colcloughi
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| Trinomial name | |
| Drymodes superciliaris colcloughi Mathews, 1914
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The Roper River scrub robin (Drymodes superciliaris colcloughi) is a bird that scientists are not sure ever truly existed. It is thought to be a special type, or subspecies, of the northern scrub robin. This bird belongs to the Petroicidae family, which are small birds found in Australia and nearby islands.
If the Roper River scrub robin did exist, it is almost certainly extinct now. This means there are no more of these birds left alive anywhere in the world.
A Mystery Bird's Story
This subspecies was first described in 1914 by a scientist named Gregory Mathews. He named it after M. J. Colclough, who was the person who collected the bird samples.
The description was based on two bird skins collected in 1910. These skins were supposedly found near the Roper River in the northern part of Australia. This area is known for its tropical monsoon climate, which means it has a wet season and a dry season.
The bird samples were collected during a trip to find birds, paid for by a rich bird enthusiast named H. L. White. The team was in the Roper River area for several months in 1910.
What Did It Look Like?
There are only two samples, or specimens, of the Roper River scrub robin. One is a male bird, kept at the American Museum of Natural History. The other is a female bird, kept at the Queensland Museum.
When Gregory Mathews first described the bird, he said it looked different from other northern scrub robins. He noted that the Roper River bird had a "much redder" back. It also had a "reddish-buff" color on its belly and chest. The other northern scrub robins live far away, more than 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) to the northeast, in Queensland.
Later, in 1983, another scientist named Simon Bennett looked at the birds again. He agreed there were small differences. For example, the male bird from Roper River had a reddish wash on its throat and face.
However, in 1999, scientists Richard Schodde and Ian Mason disagreed. They said the Roper River specimens were not very different in color or size from the birds in Queensland.
The Mystery: Did It Ever Exist?
The biggest question about the Roper River scrub robin is whether a group of these birds ever truly lived in the Northern Territory. The only proof we have are those two bird skins collected in 1910.
Another person on the 1910 trip, E. D. Frizelle, also collected some bird eggs. He claimed they were from northern scrub robins found near the Roper River. Some of these eggs are now in the National Museum of Victoria. But after looking at them again, scientists realized they were actually eggs from a different bird, the buff-sided robin. This made people wonder even more about the Roper River scrub robin.
In 1980, scientists like Simon Bennett searched for the scrub robin along the Roper River. They looked very carefully, but they could not find any. Bennett still believed the original collection location was correct. He thought the birds might have lived in small, hidden patches of plants near rivers.
He also thought that the birds might have disappeared because of changes in the area. For example, a lot of cattle grazing and different fire patterns happened after Europeans settled there. He even wondered if some birds might still be alive further north.
The Australian Government officially lists the Roper River scrub robin as Extinct. However, the Northern Territory Government lists it as Data Deficient. This means there isn't enough information to know for sure if it existed or if it's extinct.
Scientists Schodde and Mason have a strong opinion about this bird. They said:
Because doubt attaches its provenance ... colcloughi should be struck from the Australian avian inventory until the unlikely event of its rediscovery. Its collector, Colclough, passed through Cape York on the expedition which took it, and included in his manuscript list of Roper River birds a number of other species known only from northeast Australia ... Thus, given its similarity to the Cape York Peninsula form, his "Drymodes superciliaris" from the Roper is probably either a case of mistaken locality or a hoax.
This means they believe there is too much doubt about where the birds really came from. They think the Roper River scrub robin should not be listed as a real bird until it is found again, which they think is unlikely. They point out that the collector, Colclough, traveled through Cape York (where other northern scrub robins live) on the same trip. He also listed other birds from Roper River that are only known from northeast Australia. So, because the Roper River bird looks so much like the Cape York one, they think it might have been collected in the wrong place, or even that it was a trick.
