Sporophila melanops

– Critically Endangered

Taxonomy

Kingdom:

ANIMALIA

Phylum:

CHORDATA

Class:

AVES

Order:

PASSERIFORMES

Family:

EMBERIZIDAE

Scientific Name:

Sporophila melanops

Species Authority:

(Pelzeln, 1870)

Common Name/s:

English

—

HOODED SEEDEATER

Assessment Information

Red List Category & Criteria:

CR D ver 3.1 (2001)

Year Assessed:

2004

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Evaluator/s:

Capper, D., Wege, D. & Butchart, S. (BirdLife International Red List Authority)

Justification:

This species has not been recorded since the type specimen was collected in 1823, and it may have gone extinct as a result of habitat loss and/or other threatening processes. However, it cannot yet be presumed to be Extinct because the region of the type-locality has been poorly surveyed, and habitat destruction has not been severe. This suggests that, if the species is not nomadic or migratory, it may well still be extant. Any remaining population is likely to be tiny, and for these reasons it is treated as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct).

History:

1988	-	Lower Risk/least concern (BirdLife International 2004)
1994	-	Vulnerable (Collar, Crosby and Stattersfield 1994)
2000	-	Critically Endangered (BirdLife International 2000)

Geographic Range

Range Description:	Sporophila melanops is known from one adult male collected in October 1823. The specimen was taken at a lake 15 km north of Registro do Araguaia, on the east bank of the rio Araguaia in extreme west-central Goiás, Brazil.
Countries:	Possibly extinct regionally: Brazil

Population

Population Trend:

Habitat and Ecology

Habitat and Ecology:

The type-specimen was obtained from a flock of other finches in presumably open habitat. It was in heavy moult.

System:

Terrestrial

List of Habitats:

4.6	Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded

Threats

Threats:

None is known. Habitat destruction in the region is unlikely to have been sufficiently extensive to extirpate the species. However, the year-round distribution of the species is unknown and therefore deductions regarding threats are somewhat meaningless.

Conservation Actions

Conservation Actions:

Conservation measures underway:
None is known.

Conservation measures proposed:
Search Sporophila spp. flocks in Goiás and adjacent Mato Grosso. Revisit the type-locality to determine its current condition and target fieldwork at the nearest undisturbed lacustrine sites. Re-examine the type-specimen to help determine its validity.

List of Conservation Actions:

3.1	Research actions - Taxonomy (needed)
3.2	Research actions - Population numbers and range (needed)

Bibliography

Bibliography:

Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (compilers and editors) 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

Bird Reference Citations. The numbers inserted in the text accounts above (usually in bold) refer to references. For further details on these references, click on the BirdLife International link above to go to the specific species account on the BirdLife web site. In some cases, particularly in the taxonomic notes, the references are cited using the author names. Details for these can be found on the BirdLife International web site at the following two places: For References from A–L. For References from M–Z.

BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.

BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.

Collar, N.J., Crosby, M.J. and Stattersfield, A.J. 1994. Birds to Watch 2. The World List of Threatened Birds BirdLife International. Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd, U.K.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2004. Sporophila melanops. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 29 August 2008.
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