The Lord Howe fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa cervina''), also known as the Lord Howe Island fantail or fawn-breasted fantail, was a small bird in the fantail family, Rhipiduridae. It 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 ...

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa''). 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 ...

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...

in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

, part of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Description

The Lord Howe fantail has sometimes been treated as a full species. It differed from the other subspecies by its entire underparts being light cinnamon-brown, with a paler throat, lacking the white throat with the dark bar delimiting it from the breast.Hindwood, p.68.

Distribution and habitat

The Lord Howe fantail was restricted to Lord Howe Island, where it inhabited the native

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

Behaviour

The birds were very tame, commonly seen around buildings which they often entered in search of insects.

Breeding

The fantail built a cup-shaped nest, with a rudimentary tail, of decayed wood fibre and grass, bound with cobwebs and lined with fine grass, situated on a horizontal branch. The clutch was usually three, sometimes two, eggs.

Extinction

The Lord Howe fantail was reported as common in 1909 but disappeared not long after

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 were accidentally introduced to the island with the grounding of the ship SS ''Makambo'' there in June 1918. It was reported in 1924 that the birds were "practically wiped out" and there are no records from subsequent years. The fantail was only one of a suite of Lord Howe's endemic birds and other fauna exterminated by rat predation.Garnett & Crowley, pp.567 and 633.

Notes

References

* Garnett, Stephen T.; & Crowley, Gabriel M. (2000). ''The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000''. Environment Australia: Canberra

* Hindwood, K.A. (1940). Birds of Lord Howe Island. ''Emu'' 40: 1-86. * Richard Schodde, Schodde, R.; & Mason, I.J. (1999). ''The Directory of Australian Birds: Passerines''. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1869864 Lord Howe fantail Extinct birds of Lord Howe Island Bird extinctions since 1500 Lord Howe fantail