The kioea (''Chaetoptila angustipluma'') was an

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 ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

that became

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 ...

around the mid-19th century.

Description

The kioea was a large bird, about long, with a long, slightly curved

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...

. What distinguished the kioea from other honeyeaters was the broad black stripe on its face, and bristle-like feathers on the head and breast. The Hawaiian word "kioea" literally means "stand tall", though its relation to the bird's behaviour is unknown.

Taxonomy

Although all four known specimens are from the island of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

records show that related birds existed on other

Hawaiian islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

as well. The Oahu kioea (''Chaetoptila cf. angustipluma'') was found on Oahu, Maui and possibly other islands north of Oahu and has an unresolved taxonomic status within the genus ''Chaetoptila'', while the narrow-billed kioea (?''Chaetoptila'' sp.) was found on Maui and possibly others and is more distinct, possibly not warranting a placement in ''Chaetoptila'' at all. Until recently, this species and the birds in the genus ''

Moho Moho may refer to: Birds * ''Moho'' (genus), an extinct genus of birds in the family Mohoidae * The Hawaiian name of the Hawaiian rail, an extinct species * The Māori name of the North Island takahē, an extinct species * A local name for the o ...

'' were thought to belong to the family Meliphagidae (

honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Gui ...

s) because they looked and acted so similar to members of that family, including many morphological details. A 2008 study argued, on the basis of a

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analysis of

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

from museum specimens, that the genera ''Moho'' and ''Chaetoptila'' do not belong to the Meliphagidae (and only resemble them due to

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...

), but instead belong to a group that includes the

waxwing The waxwings are three species of passerine birds classified in the genus ''Bombycilla''. They are pinkish-brown and pale grey with distinctive smooth plumage in which many body feathers are not individually visible, a black and white eyestripe, ...

s and the

palmchat The palmchat (''Dulus dominicus'') is a small, long-tailed passerine bird, the only species in the genus ''Dulus'' and the family Dulidae endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti). It is rela ...

; they appear especially close to the

silky-flycatcher The silky-flycatchers are a small family, Ptiliogonatidae, of passerine birds. The family contains only four species in three genera. They were formerly lumped with waxwings and hypocolius in the family Bombycillidae, and they are listed in that ...

s. The authors proposed a family,

Mohoidae Mohoidae, also known as the Hawaiian honeyeaters, was a Family (biology), family of Hawaiian species of now Holocene extinction event, recently Extinction, extinct, Nectarivore, nectarivorous songbirds in the genera ''Moho (genus), Moho'' (ōō) ...

, for these two extinct genera. More recent studies support the family Mohoidae as being the sister group to the hypocolius of the family

Hypocoliidae The grey hypocolius or simply hypocolius (''Hypocolius ampelinus'') is a small passerine bird species. It is the sole member of the genus ''Hypocolius'' and it is placed in a family of its own, the Hypocoliidae. This slender and long tailed bird ...

Extinction

The kioea was seemingly in decline even before the first arrival on Hawaii by Europeans, since even

native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

s were (and are) seemingly unfamiliar with the bird. The

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and an exa ...

s of the kioea were not used in Hawaiian featherwork, nor is it mentioned in any chants or

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

s. Only four specimens exist in museums. The cause of its extinction is mostly attributed to logging of its habitat (the

Hawaiian tropical rainforests The Hawaiian tropical rainforests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of in the windward lowlands and montane regions of the islands. Coastal mesic forests are found at elevations from sea l ...

), hunting, and the introduction of predators like feral cats, dogs, and pigs.

Gallery

File:Chaetoptila angustipluma, Bishop Museum, Honolulu.JPG, Stuffed specimen File:Moho apicalis.jpg, ''Moho apicalis'' and ''Chaetoptila angustipluma''

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Native Forest Birds of Hawaii
{{Taxonbar, from=Q727783 Extinct birds of Hawaii Mohoidae Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1848 Taxa named by Titian Peale