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 Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as ...

family, Rhipiduridae. It is an extinct subspecies of the

New Zealand fantail The New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa'') is a small insectivorous bird, the only species of fantail in New Zealand. It has four subspecies: ''R. f. fuliginosa'' in the South Island, ''R. f. placabilis'' in the North Island, ''R. f. pe ...

(''Rhipidura fuliginosa''). It was

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 els ...

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 ...

in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) 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 ...

, part of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia.

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

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfo ...

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

cobweb A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web, or cobweb (from the archaic word '' coppe'', meaning "spider") is a structure created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey. Spi ...

s 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 SS ''Makambo'' was a steamship first owned by Burns Philp & Co. Ltd. She was built in Port Glasgow in Scotland and named after an island in the Solomon Islands. She carried both passengers and cargo and was principally used on routes between ...

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 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 extinction, extinct subspecies of the New Zealand fanta ...

Extinct birds of Lord Howe Island Bird extinctions since 1500