The bushwren (''Xenicus longipes''), also known as the in the

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

, is an

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 ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of diminutive and nearly

flightless bird Flightless birds are birds that cannot Bird flight, fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites (ostriches, emus, cassowary, cassowaries, Rhea (bird), rheas, an ...

that was endemic to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It had three subspecies on each of the major islands of New Zealand, the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

, and

Stewart Island / Rakiura Stewart Island (, 'Aurora, glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura, formerly New Leinster) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island wit ...

and nearby smaller islands. The species disappeared gradually after the introduction of invasive mammalian predators, last being seen on the North Island in 1955 and the South Island in 1968. Attempts were made to save the remaining population on small islands off Stewart Island, but they ultimately failed with the death of the last remaining known birds in 1972.

Taxonomy

German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...

described the bushwren in 1789.

Description

It grew to about 9 cm long and 16 g in weight. It fed mostly on

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s, which it captured by running along the branches of trees. It nested on or near the ground.

Behaviour

Bushwrens had a hopping or bobbing movement, with a fast running speed on the ground or branches. Their call was a 'subdued trill' or 'seep', sometimes repeated in quick succession. They built spherical nests near the ground with an entrance on the side, and typically laid two eggs in November or December.

Extinction

It was widespread throughout the main islands of the country until the late 19th century when mustelids were introduced and joined

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

s as invasive mammalian predators. The only authenticated reports of the

subspecies (''X. l. stokesi'') since 1900 were from the southern

Rimutaka Range The Remutaka Range (also spelt Rimutaka Range) is the southernmost range of a mountain chain in the lower North Island of New Zealand. The chain continues north into the Tararua, then Ruahine Ranges, running parallel with the east coast bet ...

in 1918 and the Ureweras up to 1955, with probable sightings on June 13, 1949, near Lake Waikareiti, and several times in the first half of the 20th century in the Huiarau Range and from

Kapiti Island Kapiti Island (), sometimes written as Kāpiti Island, is an island nature reserve located off the west coast of the lower North Island of New Zealand and within the Kāpiti Coast District. Parts of the island were previously farmed, but it is ...

in 1911. Apparently, the last population lived in the area where Te Urewera National Park was established, just around the time of its extinction. The last authenticated reports of the

subspecies (''X. l. longipes'') were from

Arthur's Pass Arthur's Pass, previously called Camping Flat then Bealey Flats, and for some time officially Arthurs Pass, is a township in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, located in the Selwyn district. It is a popular base for explori ...

in 1966 and

Nelson Lakes National Park Nelson Lakes National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, at the northern end of the Southern Alps. It was created in 1956 (one of four created in the 1950s). The park contains beech forests, multiple lakes, snow-covered mountains and v ...

in 1968. There have been a few unsubstantiated reports since then from

Fiordland Fiordland (, "The Pit of Tattooing", and also translated as "the Shadowlands"), is a non-administrative geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western third of Southland. Most of F ...

and Nelson Lakes. The third subspecies, the Stewart Island bushwren or Stead's bushwren (''X. l. variabilis''), was found on

and nearby islands. It is known to have survived on Stewart Island until 1951,Dawson, E. W. (1951): Bird Notes from Stewart Island. ''Notornis'' 4(6): 146–150
PDF fulltext
/ref> but was probably exterminated there by

feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

s. It lived on Kotiwhenua (Solomon) Island, being reasonably common, until the early 1960s. It survived on predator-free Taukihepa / Big South Cape Island until

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 ...

s (''R. rattus'') invaded it in 1964. The New Zealand Wildlife Service attempted to save the species by relocating all the birds they could capture. They caught six birds and transferred them to Kaimohu Island, where they did not survive and they finally died out in 1972.

Gallery

XenicusLongipesBuller.jpg, Illustration of ''Xenicus longipes longipes'' by

John Gerrard Keulemans Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (8 June 1842 – 29 March 1912) was a Dutch bird illustrator. For most of his life he lived and worked in England, illustrating many of the best-known ornithology books of the nineteenth century. Biography Keulemans ...

Xenicus longipes longipes eggs.jpg, Eggs of ''X. l. longipes'' in 1911 Xenicus longipes, Gmelin. Bush-Wren. "Matihutihi".jpg, 1888 illustration of the head and feet of ''Xenicus longipes'' by

References

External links

3D view
of specimen RMNH 110.000 at

Naturalis Naturalis Biodiversity Center () is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively ...

, Leiden (requires

QuickTime QuickTime (or QuickTime Player) is an extensible multimedia architecture created by Apple, which supports playing, streaming, encoding, and transcoding a variety of digital media formats. The term ''QuickTime'' also refers to the QuickTime Pla ...

browser plugin).
Paratype specimen of ''Xenicus longipes variabilis''
in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Image of Bush Wren
from Te Ara: The Online Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Photography of Xenicus longipes
by William Herbert Guthrie-Smith
''Bush Wren / Matuhi. Xenicus longipes''.
by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006 {{Taxonbar, from=Q135443 Xenicus Extinct birds of New Zealand Species made extinct by human activities Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1789 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin Species that are or were threatened by invasive species