The Lord Howe gerygone or Lord Howe gerygone flyeater (''Gerygone insularis'') was a small

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Acanthizidae, brown and greyish in color. Its head was brown apart from a pale grey eye-ring and a grey throat and chin, many parts of the animal varied to the colour of yellow, this being apparent in its bright yellow belly. It made its home in the canopies of the island's forest until the early 20th century. The bird has had a variety of monikers: locally, it was known as the "rain-bird" due to its activity after the rains, or the "pop-goes-the-weasel", due to the similarity of its song to the well-known tune. The bird 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 ...

). There have been no records of the species since 1928, and it is considered to be

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 ...

. Its extinction is almost certainly due to predation by

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 which were accidentally introduced to the island in 1918 following the

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

of the SS ''Makambo'' there.

Taxonomy

There is much conflict in scientific literature regarding the exact taxonomic divisions of the gerygone species in the area. ''Gerygone insularis'' was previously referred to as ''Pseudogerygone insularis''. There is also a significant mention of a second species, ''Gerygone thorpe'', but, other than a smaller size there is not apparent evidence that this was a separate species. The bird is more widely referred to as the ''Gerygone insularis'' as named by Ramsey in 1879. ''Gerygone insularis'' was also considered a subspecies of a broader taxon which included ''G. modesta'' from Norfolk Island and ''G. igata'' from New Zealand.

Physiology

Appearance

The Lord Howe gerygone was a small brown and grayish perching

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...

. The small feathers extending from the bird's eye to its ear were pale grey as well as the section of feathers between its eyes leading to its eyebrows. The Lord Howe gerygone had a ring of feathers around its eye of lighter grey forming a light perimeter around the orbital, which matched the similarly light feathers of its chin and throat. The portion of its body lining the ribcage yet excluding the abdomen had medium brown coloring, with the back of the head leading to the beginning of the tail matching this color scheme. The breast was a shade of pale-grey complemented with a touch of yellow that led to the fully yellow abdomen. The dorsal portion of its tail was a shade of brown gradually turning to black at the tip of the tail. The ventral portion of the tail was all white. The Lord Howe gerygone had pink eyes, similar to those of an albino

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 ...

, and a thin grey bill.

Body size

On average, the Lord Howe gerygone grew to be roughly 12 centimeters and weighed 6 to 7 grams. The small body type is common with perching

s. The meaning of gerygone is 'born of sound'. It lived in the canopy of Australian forests and its small body coupled with its thin bill was ideal for feeding on small insects.

Behavior

Reproduction

A pregnant Lord Howe gerygone would lay a clutch of three pink-tinged, brown-speckled eggs in a domed nest made up of dry bark, fibres, leaves, grass, moss and wool wrapped together with a spider web suspended from a twig. The nest was described by natives as having an entrance on the side, and a projecting hood. (Hull, 1909)

Diet

The Lord Howe gerygone's diet consisted mostly of small insects and spiders. The small bill was used to pull these insects out of the trees high up in the forest canopy. They were very abundant after rainfall due to the presence of more small insects during this time. (Hull, 1909)

Habitat

It was endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia. This species of bird was very common and found mostly in canopies of the native forests and secondary regrowths on this island.

Threats

Extinction

The Lord Howe gerygone has not been seen alive since 1928. It is thought that its extinction was due to the introduction of

s that preyed on the bird's nests. Also, it is believed that disease introduced by other similar birds were related to the cause of extinction.BirdLife International 2012. Gerygone insularis. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 24 October 2013.

Miscellaneous

Though this species is listed by the EBPC as migratory, it was not a migratory species. It is listed this way due to the inclusion of Endangered or Presumed Extinct species when the list was created in 2001. A preserved example survives in the collection of the

World Museum World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...

, Liverpool.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q674329 insularis Bird extinctions since 1500 Extinct birds of Lord Howe Island Birds described in 1879 Endemic fauna of Australia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot