A professor from the University of North Texas, Ricardo Rozzi, was credited with discovering a new bird species in Chile called the Subantarctic Rayadito (Aphrastura subantarctica).
Rozzi is the director of the university’s Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program (SBCP) in Chile.
He spent the last six years analyzing data and doing field research on the small yellow bird in South America with his team, WFAA reported.
“I always was curious about this little bird, and finally we were able to take the time to study it, analyzing its habitat, life habits, and cohabitants from multidisciplinary lenses,” Rozzi told WFAA. “This discovery is a great expression of what international collaboration can bring.”
Only two other types of birds are part of the genus Aphrastura, according to Rozzi and his team. The newly identified birds are known for having larger bodies, longer beaks, and shorter tails. The Subantarctic Rayadito can be found nesting on the ground.
Rozzi told WFAA that the area where this bird species is found is protected land.
“This is a significant finding for the bird species itself and for the conservation of its habitat, which is protected by the Diego Ramirez Islands – Drake Passage Marine Park, the largest marine protected area in southern South America that UNT helped create with the Chilean government in 2018,” he said.
Over the years Rozzi and the team worked alongside several international partners. A report on the new species was also published in Scientific Reports, WFAA reported.
One member of the team, Ramiro Crego, recently graduated from the University of North Texas with a biology Ph.D. Crego graduated in 2017, according to WFAA, and is now at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Conservation Ecology Center as a researcher.
“This work shows us that there’s still so much more to uncover in this world, so many natural mysteries that we still do not know,” Crego told WFAA.
“Living and researching in Chile was such a life-changing experience. The entire program is unique in so many ways,” he said. “One of the most important lessons I learned during my time there was the value of interdisciplinary research. Bringing all those people together on a program, on different projects, opens your eyes, your brain, and your heart to all the perspectives that help inform scientific discoveries like this one.”
The Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program has multiple international partners to help in its conservation mission in South America, the program’s official website shares.
The website states that the program “is coordinated by the University of North Texas in the United States, and the University of Magallanes and the consortium of the Omora Foundation in Chile, which includes the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. The SBCP aims to approach conservation by coupling the social and ecological dynamics within policy making in Chile’s UNESCO Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, at the southern tip of South America.”
Its Facebook page also shared news of the discovery and photos of the newly-identified bird species.
