The mountain starling (''Aplonis santovestris''), also known as Vanuatu starling, Santo mountain starling or Santo starling, is a bird species in the family Sturnidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the island of

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. It is restricted to cloud forest on that island.Bregulla, Heinrich L. (1992) ''Birds of Vanuatu'', Anthony Nelson, Oswestry, England. The species was seldom seen in the 20th century and was at one point feared

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

, although a 1991 expedition managed to find a population high in the mountains.

References

External links

* mountain starling Birds of Vanuatu Endemic birds of Vanuatu Espiritu Santo mountain starling Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Sturnidae-stub