Amami woodcock | |
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Stuffed specimen of Scolopax mira at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Scolopacidae |
Genus: | Scolopax |
Species: | S. mira
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Binomial name | |
Scolopax mira
Hartert, 1916
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The Amami woodcock (Scolopax mira) is a medium-sized wader. It is slightly larger and longer-legged than Eurasian woodcock, and may be conspecific.
This species is a restricted-range endemic found only in forests on Amami Oshima, Okinawa and Tokunoshima. [2] Consequently, due to the introduction of the invasive small Indian mongoose, their population is declining. [3] Insofar as its habits are known, they are similar to the Eurasian woodcock.
The Amami woodcock was originally described as a subspecies of the Eurasian woodcock, due to a juvenile that resembled the Eurasian woodcock in coloration. Later, some argued that the Amami woodcock was a distinct species—Kobayashi in 1979 and Cramp & Simmons in 1983. Comparison between the two species revealed their distinct physical features, and led to the emergence of the Amami woodcock as a distinct species. [4]
Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater, ISBN 0-7099-2034-2