Lāna'i Hookbill

Lanai hooked beak ( Dysmorodrepanis munroi )

The Lanai hooked beak ( Dysmorodrepanis munroi ) is an extinct Singvogelart of the subfamily of dresses birds. The species was discovered in 1913 by George Campbell Munro on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, their taxonomic status, however, remained unsettled until 1989.

Features

The only known bellows, which is kept in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, has a length of 152 mm. James Cowan Greenway suspected that the specimen was partially albino table .. However, this did not seem to have been the case, although some copies of the yellow-headed bird clothes ( Psittirostra psittacea ) on Lanai showed this tendency. In contrast to the yellow-headed bird of clothes Lanai hooked beak on the reins and over the eyes is tinted yellowish. The top is pale greenish olive. The underside is whitish yellow. On the under tail-coverts the coloring goes into whitish. About The eye-streak is pale yellowish. From the wide tips and inner webs of secondaries white wings fields are formed. The upper and lower mandibles are curved to each other, so that the tip of the lower mandible is the only part that touches the upper beak and an opening leaves, which can appear similar to tweezers the beak.

Habitat

All recorded observations come from the woods on the south-western end lanais, especially in Kaiholena Valley and Waiakeakua. These proofs were at altitudes between 600 and 800 m. However, the habitat of Lanai - hook beak included in the past thousands of acres on Lanai and it is likely that this species once had a much larger area of ​​distribution on this island. The Lanai hooked beak was a state bird. It is believed that he lived in the montane dry forests of akoko (Euphorbia lorifolia ) and ōpuhe ( Urera glabra) are dominated. The unique shape of the beak, especially if one compares it with that of the yellow-headed bird clothes, and its apparent rarity, suggests that the Lanai hooked beak was an extreme specialist and restricted to this habitat.

Way of life

About the food behavior is only known that the Lanai hooked beak nourished by the fruits of ōpuhe. It is also suspected that the fruits of akoko because of their similarity in size and shape with the ōpuhe enriched the food supply. However, it is considered unlikely that this species was a pure fruit eaters. Rather, it is suggested that the Lanai hooked beak specialized due to its unique beak on the catching of snails. This type was very active during foraging and flew resistant from tree to tree. Based on the structure of the beak, it is presumed that it was used as tongs to pick fruit and flowers for consumption. It is also possible that the bird crush with its beak Schneckerhäuser and could extract with its primitive and non- tubular tongue, the meat from the shell. Through its breeding behavior is not known. However, it is believed that this type similar to other dresses birds lay two to three eggs and the young birds were altricial.

Extinction

After Holotypusfund in 1913, Munro was able to demonstrate this type twice. In March 1916, he heard the singing of three copies and one of which he could observe. In August 1918 Munro managed a last sighting. Between 1900 and 1940 almost the entire forest area lanai was converted to pineapple fields. Thus, the habitat of Lanai - hook beak was dramatically reduced and it is believed that this could have played the most important role in the extinction of this species. It is also believed that the avian malaria, the avifauna lanais had befallen since the 1920s, could also have been a Aussterbeursache. Other causes for the disappearance of Lanai hook beak could have been the proliferation of rats and feral cats as well as the extinction of endemic snail species on Lanai by human intervention. In 1988 the species was added to the list of extinct bird species by the IUCN.

System

In February 1913 George Campbell Munro discovered in Kaiholena Valley on Lanai, a new species whose status remained a mystery for a long time. 1919 made ​​the ornithologist Robert Cyril Layton Perkins to the first scientific description, which has not been recognized in official ornithological circles. 1939 James Cowan Greenway argued that it should be at the Lanai - hook Schabel to an abnormal copy of the yellow-headed bird clothes. He suspected that the specimen was a young male or probably a hybrid. The most important distinguishing feature of Lanai - hook beak is the beak, the lower beak is curved and the upper beak touches only at the top. Greenway also argued that the beak shape is due to a defect, an accident or a mutation and that were detected in the population of the now extinct probably also yellow head - dresses bird on Lanai deformed specimens. Next Greenway picked out that Munro, despite diligent searching, could not catch another copy more. 1989 investigated the Paläoornithologen Helen Frances James, Richard Storrs L. Olson Zusi and the instance. The skull was removed from the bladder and from the Schädelosteologie could be proved that no deformation templates and also that the skull and the mandible showed variations that are consistent with the unusual beak shape. Thus, the authenticity of this taxon was found as a result of this analysis.

Etymology

The Lanai hooked beak is the only species of the genus Dysmorodrepanis. The genus name is derived from the ancient Greek term " dusmoros " and means " deformed ". The word " drepanis " identifies the Lanai hooked beak bird as clothes. It comes from the ancient Greek, means sickle, and is a reference to the sickle-shaped beaks of birds dresses. The specific epithet honors the munroi botanists and ornithologists George Campbell Munro, the discoverer of the Art