The Maui Nui ʻakialoa or Lānaʻi ʻakialoa (''Akialoa lanaiensis'') is an extinct species of

Hawaiian honeycreeper Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small birds endemic to Hawaii. They are members of the finch family Fringillidae, closely related to the rosefinches (''Carpodacus''), but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any othe ...

in the subfamily

Carduelinae The cardueline finches are a subfamily, Carduelinae, one of three subfamilies of the finch family Fringillidae, the others being the Fringillinae and the Euphoniinae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are now included in this subfamily. Except for the ...

of the family

Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...

. It inhabited the islands of

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 ...

Lānaʻi Lānai is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain. It is colloquially known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation. The island's o ...

, and Molokaʻi in

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 ...

Description and habitat

The Maui Nui ʻakialoa was a grayish-yellow bird. It was six inches long, with a bill that was an inch and a half in length. It used its long bill to probe bark in search of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

and probe flowers in search of

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 ...

. It is known from three specimens collected on the island of

in 1892. It is also known from fossils on Molokaʻi and

. It lived in forests above 200 m of elevation.

Extinction

The Maui Nui ʻakialoa was driven to extinction by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and disease.

Invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

may also have been a factor.

References

Maui Nui Maui Nui is a modern Geology, geologists' name given to a prehistoric Hawaii, Hawaiian island and the corresponding modern Biogeography, biogeographic region. Maui Nui is composed of four modern islands: Maui, Molokai, Molokaʻi, Lanai, Lānaʻi, ...

Hawaiian honeycreepers Extinct birds of Hawaii Maui Nui akialoa Bird extinctions since 1500 Maui Nui akialoa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Fringillidae-stub