Molokaʻi ʻŌʻō

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Moloka‘i ‘Ō‘ō
Moloka‘i ‘Ō‘ō
Moloka‘i ‘Ō‘ō
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Meliphagidae
Genus: Moho
Species: M. bishopi
Binomial name
Moho bishopi
Rothschild, 1893
Synonyms
  • Acrulocercus bishopi

The Moloka‘i ‘Ō‘ō or Bishop's ‘Ō‘ō (Moho bishopi) is an extinct bird from the Moho genus within the family of the honeyeaters (Meliphagidae). Lionel Walter Rothschild named it after Charles Reed Bishop, the founder of the Bishop Museum.

Contents

[edit] Description

It was discovered in 1892 by Henry C. Palmer, a bird collector for Lord Rothschild. Its length was about 29 centimetres. The tail had reached a length of 10 centimetres. The plumage was general glossy black with yellow feather tufts on the maxillaries, beneath the wings and the undertail coverts. Their songs were simple two notes, took-took, Which could be heard for miles.



[edit] Distribution

It was endemic to the montane forests in the eastern of the Hawaiian Island of Molokai, and Mount Olokai. Subfossil bone finds are known from Maui, on Mount Olinda at about 4,500 above sea level.

[edit] Ecology

Little is known about its ecology. It was nectavorous and fed from flower nectar of the Campanulaceae family.

[edit] Extinction

The reasons for its extinction were habitat destruction through deforestation, the hunting through introduced mammals, the hunting due to the much sought yellow feathers to create the precious capes for the nobilities as well as by diseases which were introduced by mosquitoes. It was last seen in 1904 by ornithologist George Campbell Munro. In 1915 Munro tried to verify reports of eventual sightings but he never found this bird again. In 1981 there was an allegedly rediscovery on Maui. But this was never confirmed.


[edit] Specimens

Today the bird can only be seen as specimens, paintings, picture notes, and skins. So far there are recorded in Bremen, Cambridge, Mass;. Honolulu; London; Molokai, Hawaiian Islands; New York; and Stockholm.


[edit] References

  • Munro, George C. (1944 and its revised 2nd. edition from 1960): Birds of Hawaii
  • Flannery, Tim & Schouten, Peter (2001): A Gap in Nature
  • Fuller, Errol (2000): Extinct Birds
  • Day, David (1981): The Doomsday Book of Animals
  • Greenway, James C. (1967): Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World
  • Luther, Dieter (2005): Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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