The kioea (''Chaetoptila angustipluma'') was a

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 elsew ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

that became

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

around the mid-19th century.

Description

The kioea was a large bird, about long, with a long, slightly curved

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

. What distinguished the kioea from other honeyeaters was the broad black stripe on its face, and bristle-like feathers on the head and breast. The Hawaiian word "kioea" literally means "stand tall", though its relation to the bird's behaviour is unknown.

Taxonomy

Although all four known specimens are from the island of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

records show that related birds existed on other

Hawaiian islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

as well. The Oahu kioea (''Chaetoptila cf. angustipluma'') was found on Oahu, Maui and possibly other islands north of Oahu and has an unresolved taxonomic status within the genus ''Chaetoptila'', while the Narrow-billed kioea (?''Chaetoptila'' sp.) was found on Maui and possibly others and is more distinct, possibly not warranting a placement in ''Chaetoptila'' at all. Until recently, this species and the birds in the genus '' Moho'' were thought to belong to the family Meliphagidae (

honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family (biology), family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Epthianura, Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, Manorina, miners and melidectes. They are ...

s) because they looked and acted so similar to members of that family, including many morphological details. A 2008 study argued, on the basis of a

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analysis of DNA from museum specimens, that the genera ''Moho'' and ''Chaetoptila'' do not belong to the Meliphagidae (and only resemble them due to

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

), but instead belong to a group that includes the

waxwing The waxwings are three species of passerine birds classified in the genus ''Bombycilla''. They are pinkish-brown and pale grey with distinctive smooth plumage in which many body feathers are not individually visible, a black and white eyestripe, ...

s and the

palmchat The palmchat (''Dulus dominicus'') is a small, long-tailed passerine bird, the only species in the genus ''Dulus'' and the family Dulidae endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti). It is rela ...

; they appear especially close to the

silky-flycatcher The silky-flycatchers are a small family, Ptiliogonatidae, of passerine birds. The family contains only four species in three genera. They were formerly lumped with waxwings and hypocolius in the family Bombycillidae, and they are listed in tha ...

s. The authors proposed a family,

Mohoidae Mohoidae, also known as the Hawaiian honeyeaters, is a family of Hawaiian species of recently extinct, nectarivorous songbirds in the genera '' Moho'' (ōō) and '' Chaetoptila'' (kioea). These now extinct birds form their own family, represent ...

, for these two extinct genera. More recent studies support the family Mohoidae as being the sister group to the hypocolius of the family

Hypocoliidae The grey hypocolius or simply hypocolius (''Hypocolius ampelinus'') is a small passerine bird species. It is the sole member of the genus ''Hypocolius'' and it is placed in a family of its own, the Hypocoliidae. This slender and long tailed bird i ...

Extinction

The kioea was seemingly in decline even before the first arrival on Hawaii by Europeans, since even

native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

s were (and are) seemingly unfamiliar with the bird. The

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...

s of the kioea were not used in Hawaiian featherwork, nor is it mentioned in any chants or

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

s. Only four specimens exist in museums. The cause of its extinction is mostly attributed to logging of its habitat (the

Hawaiian tropical rainforests The Hawaiian tropical rainforests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of in the windward lowlands and montane regions of the islands. Coastal mesic forests are found at elevations from se ...

), hunting, and the introduction of predators like feral cats, dogs, and pigs.

Gallery

File:Chaetoptila angustipluma, Bishop Museum, Honolulu.JPG, Stuffed specimen File:Moho apicalis.jpg, ''Moho apicalis'' and ''Chaetoptila angustipluma''

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Native Forest Birds of Hawaii
{{Taxonbar, from=Q727783 Endemic birds of Hawaii Extinct birds of Hawaii Mohoidae Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1848 Taxa named by Titian Peale