The long-billed wren (''Dendroscansor decurvirostris'') was a species of

New Zealand wren The New Zealand wrens are a family (Acanthisittidae) of tiny passerines endemic to New Zealand. They were represented by seven Holocene species in four or five genera, although only two species in two genera survive today. They are understood to ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found else ...

to the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman S ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...

. It was the only species in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencla ...

''Dendroscansor''. It shares the name "long-billed wren" with the Brazilian bird '' Cantorchilus longirostris.'' New Zealand's long-billed wren was a small bird with stout legs and tiny wings. Its reduced

sternum The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury. Sha ...

suggests that it had weak flight muscles and was probably flightless, like the recently

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

Lyall's wren Lyall's wren or the Stephens Island wren (''Traversia lyalli'') is a small, extinct, flightless passerine belonging to the family Acanthisittidae, the New Zealand wrens. It was once found throughout New Zealand, but when it came to the attention ...

. Its weight is estimated at 30 g, which makes it heavier than any surviving New Zealand wren, but lighter than the also-extinct stout-legged wren. The bill of this species was both long and curved, unlike that of all other acanthisittid wrens. The species is known only from

subfossil 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 preserved in ...

s at four sites in Northwest Nelson and Southland; it seems to have been absent from the North Island and eastern South Island. The holotype was collected in 1986 from Moonsilver Cave, on Barrans Flat, near Takaka. It is the rarest fossil wren from New Zealand and presumably was the least common species when it was still extant. It is thought to have lived in high-altitude shrublands (like the surviving

New Zealand rock wren The New Zealand rock wren (''Xenicus gilviventris'') is a small New Zealand wren (family (biology), family Acanthisittidae) Endemism, endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Its Māori language, Māori names include ("little complaining bir ...

) and perhaps montane

southern beech ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

forest. The long-billed wren went extinct before the arrival of

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

colonists and explorers in New Zealand. It was among the first wave of native bird species to go extinct after the

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

of Polynesian rats (or kiore). Like many New Zealand species, the long-billed wren presumably had few defences against novel predators such as rats.

References

External links

Long-billed Wren. ''Dendroscansor decurvirostris.''
by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006 {{Taxonbar, from2=Q6671844, from1=Q21447415 Acanthisittidae Birds described in 1991 Extinct birds of New Zealand Extinct flightless birds Fossil taxa described in 1991 Holocene extinctions Late Quaternary prehistoric birds