The Maui Nui 'akialoa or Lana'i 'akialoa (''Akialoa lanaiensis'') was a

Hawaiian honeycreeper Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small, passerine birds endemic to Hawaii. They are closely related to the rosefinches in the genus ''Carpodacus'', but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any other finch. Their great ...

of 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 ...

and the family

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

. It was endemic to the island of Lanai,

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 state ...

in modern times, but seems to have occurred on all major islands of former

Maui Nui Maui Nui or Greater Maui, is a modern geologists' name given to a prehistoric Hawaiian Island built from seven shield volcanoes. ''Nui'' means "great/large" in the Hawaiian language. 1.2 million years ago, Maui Nui was , 40% larger than the p ...

before human settlement. The Maui Nui akialoa was one of the birds that made up the Hawaiian honeyeater genus Akialoa. This genus included about 7 species of long-billed birds that were from five to nine inches in length. What made up to a third of their length was their bill which ranged from an inch in length, to two and a half. This species was the second largest of the recently extinct akialoas(3 larger species, the Hoopoe-billed 'akialoa and 2 undescribed, went extinct when Polynesians colonised the islands) and was the most widespread. It once inhabited the islands of Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui and Molokai (the islands that together made up the prehistoric island of Maui Nui), but it vanished on all except Lanai before scientists could see them alive there. It was a grayish-yellow bird that was found at mid-altitude areas where it was seen pecking on bark in search or insects and seen pecking at flowers in search of nectar. The bird was six inches long, with a bill that was an inch and a half in length. It was a bird that was very fragile in nature and elusive. It was never found in high numbers and may have been on the verge of extinction on Maui when the Europeans arrived. The loss of the understory layer to pigs was a big hit to the last of the birds. If the land was cleared by pigs, the land would have a forest floor layer made up of durable, pig resistant plants the akialoa was not accustomed to. By 1892, this akialoa was gone, and was the first of seven species of akialoa to go extinct in modern times due to

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and introduced diseases.

References

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