Mimus
Encyclopedia
Mimus is a bird
genus
in the family
Mimidae. It contains the typical mockingbird
s. In 2007, the genus Nesomimus was merged into Mimus by the American Ornithologists' Union.
The following species
are placed here:
The Nesomimus group includes the following species:
The Nesomimus group is endemic to the Galápagos Islands
. These mockingbirds were important in Charles Darwin
's development of the theory of evolution
by natural selection
.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Mimidae. It contains the typical mockingbird
Mockingbird
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. There are about 17 species in three genera...
s. In 2007, the genus Nesomimus was merged into Mimus by the American Ornithologists' Union.
The following species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
are placed here:
- Brown-backed MockingbirdBrown-backed MockingbirdThe Brown-backed Mockingbird is a species of bird in the Mimidae family.It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile....
, Mimus dorsalis - Bahama MockingbirdBahama MockingbirdThe Bahama Mockingbird is a species of bird in the Mimidae family.It is found in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and is a vagrant to the United States....
, Mimus gundlachii - Long-tailed MockingbirdLong-tailed MockingbirdThe Long-tailed Mockingbird is a species of bird in the Mimidae family. It is found in dry scrubland and woodland in western Ecuador.In Peru it is found throughout the coastal region, although much less so south of Ica....
, Mimus longicaudatus - Patagonian MockingbirdPatagonian MockingbirdThe Patagonian Mockingbird is a species of bird in the Mimidae family. It is found in Argentina and locally in Chile. Vagrants have been recorded in the Falkland Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical dry shrubland and heavily degraded former forest.-References:* BirdLife International...
, Mimus patagonicus - Chilean MockingbirdChilean MockingbirdThe Chilean Mockingbird locally known as Tenca is a species of bird in the Mimidae family.It inhabit Chile and Argentina...
, Mimus thenca - White-banded MockingbirdWhite-banded MockingbirdThe White-banded Mockingbird is a species of bird in the Mimidae family.It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay....
, Mimus triurus - Northern MockingbirdNorthern MockingbirdThe Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, is the only mockingbird commonly found in North America. This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Turdus polyglottos....
, Mimus polyglottos - Socorro MockingbirdSocorro MockingbirdThe Socorro Mockingbird, Mimus graysoni, is an endangered mockingbird endemic to Socorro Island in Mexico's Revillagigedo Islands. The specific epithet commemorates the American ornithologist Andrew Jackson Grayson....
, Mimus graysoni - Tropical MockingbirdTropical MockingbirdThe Tropical Mockingbird, Mimus gilvus, is a resident breeding bird from southern Mexico south to northern Brazil, and in the Lesser Antilles and other Caribbean islands. The birds in Panama and Trinidad may have been introduced. The Northern Mockingbird is its closest living relative, but the...
, Mimus gilvus - Chalk-browed MockingbirdChalk-browed MockingbirdThe Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Mimus saturninus, is a bird found in most of Brazil, and parts of Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, and Suriname. It's a bird of open wooded areas, including urban and suburban gardens...
, Mimus saturninus
The Nesomimus group includes the following species:
- Hood MockingbirdHood MockingbirdThe Hood Mockingbird, Mimus macdonaldi, also known as the Española Mockingbird is a species of bird in the Mimidae family. It is endemic to Española Island in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, and it is one of four closely related mockingbird species endemic to the Galápagos archipelago...
, Mimus macdonaldi - Galápagos MockingbirdGalápagos MockingbirdThe Galápagos Mockingbird is a species of bird in the Mimidae family. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.-Description:...
, Mimus parvulus - Floreana MockingbirdFloreana MockingbirdThe Floreana Mockingbird or Charles Mockingbird 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...
or Charles Mockingbird, Mimus trifasciatus - San Cristóbal MockingbirdSan Cristobal MockingbirdThe San Cristobal Mockingbird or Chatham Mockingbird is a species of bird in the Mimidae family. It is endemic to San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador....
, Mimus melanotis
The Nesomimus group is endemic to the Galápagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
. These mockingbirds were important in Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's development of the theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
by natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
.
External links
- Darwin's Mockingbirds; a site about the Nesomimus group run by Professor Robert L. Curry of Villanova UniversityVillanova UniversityVillanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
.