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The large cactus finch (''Geospiza conirostris'') is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is one of Darwin's finches, and is endemic to the Galápagos islands, Ecuador, where it is restricted to Española, Genovesa, Darwin, and Wolf Islands. This rather dark bird resembles the smaller and finer-beaked common cactus finch, but the two species do not co-inhabit any island. There are significant differences between the subspecies of the large cactus finch; ''G. c. conirostris'' of Española has a far larger beak than ''G. c. darwinii'' and ''G. c. propinqua'' of the remaining three islands. Its natural habitat is dry shrubland and it is commonly seen on the ground. Its main food source is the cactus ''Opuntia''. ==Taxonomy== The large cactus finch is one of Darwin's finches, a group of closely related birds which evolved on the Galápagos Islands. The group is related to the ''Tiaris'' grassquits, which are found in South America and the Caribbean.〔 An ancestral relative of those grassquits arrived on the Galápagos Islands some 2–3 million years ago, and the large cactus finch is one of the species which evolved from that ancestor.〔Grant & Grant (2008), p. 25.〕 There are three subspecies: *''G. c. conirostris'' is found on the island of Española. *''G. c. darwinii'' is found on the islands of Darwin and Wolf. *''G. c. propinqua'' is found on the island of Genovesa.〔 First described by Robert Ridgway in 1890, the large cactus finch is one of six species the genus ''Geospiza''.〔 The name ''Geospiza'' is a combination of the Greek words ''geo''-, meaning "ground-" and ''spiza'', meaning finch.〔Jobling (2010), p. 172.〕 The specific name ''conirostris'' comes from the Latin ''conus'', meaning "cone" and ''rostris'', meaning "-billed" (''rostrum'' = bill).〔Jobling (2010), p. 116.〕 Although this species was originally described as a finch, DNA research has now shown that all of Darwin's "finches" are actually tanagers.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Large cactus finch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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