The Bishop's ‘ō‘ō or Molokai ‘ō‘ō (''Moho bishopi'') was the penultimate member of the extinct genus of the ‘ō‘ōs ('' Moho'') within the extinct family Mohoidae. It was previously regarded as member of the Australo-Pacific

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 (Meliphagidae).Fleischer R.C., James H.F., and Olson S.L. (2008). Convergent Evolution of Hawaiian and Australo-Pacific Honeyeaters from Distant Songbird Ancestors. Current Biology, Volume 18, Issue 24, 1927-1931, 11 December 2008.

Lionel Walter Rothschild Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoology, zoologist, and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he wa ...

named it after Charles Reed Bishop, the founder of the

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...

. It was also the second to last member of the Mohoidae family to become extinct, six years before the

Kauaʻi ʻōʻō The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō () or ''ʻōʻōʻāʻā'' (''Moho braccatus'') was the last member of the ʻōʻō (''Moho (genus), Moho'') genus within the Mohoidae family of birds from the islands of Hawaii, Hawaiʻi. The entire family is now Extincti ...

Description

It was discovered in 1892 by Henry C. Palmer, a bird collector for Lord Rothschild. Its length was about 29 centimeters. The tail had reached a length of 10 centimeters. 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.

Distribution

It was

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 ...

to the montane forests of the

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 ...

an islands of

Molokai Molokai or Molokai ( or ; Molokaʻi dialect: Morotaʻi ) is the fifth most populated of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles (61 by 16 km) at its g ...

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

, and Lanai. Subfossil bone finds from Maui (on Mount Olinda at about 4,500 ft above sea level) are sometimes referred to in literature as the Maui ʻōʻō.

Ecology

Little is known about its ecology. It fed on

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

from the flowers of Hawaiian lobelioids, much like other members of its family.

Extinction

Causes of the bird's extinction include deforestation, predation by introduced predators (such as the

black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

), clearing of land for agriculture and livestock grazing, and diseases which were introduced by mosquitoes. It was seen in 1904 by ornithologist George Campbell Munro. In 1915, Munro tried to verify reports of eventual sightings but he never found live individuals again. The last sighting was by Dr. Stephen Sabo in 1981.

Purported Maui Sightings

Reports of an O'o on Maui have been catalogued since 1828. In 1902, Henshaw reported seeing a bird matching the appearance of Bishop's O'o in the Olinda region. A spat of sightings of a bird with field marks and calls matching Bishop's O'o was reported in the 1980's from the Ko'olau Nature Reserve, most notably by Stephen R. Sabo in 1981. Subfossil remains of an O'o are known from Maui, so it is not implausible Bishop's O'o may have occurred here and evaded detection due to Maui being overlooked by 19th and 20th century collectors.

References

External links

Fact Sheets Bishops OoSpecies factsheet
- BirdLife International {{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop's 'O'o Extinct birds of Hawaii Moho (genus) Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1893 Taxa named by Walter Rothschild Biota of Molokai