The North Island robin (''Petroica longipes'') is a species of
Australasian robin
The bird family Petroicidae includes 51 species in 19 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called th ...
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 ...
to the
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. It is also known in
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
as the Toutouwai.
It and the
South Island robin
The South Island robin (''Petroica australis''), also known in Māori as the Kakaruwai., is a sparrow-sized bird found only in New Zealand, where it has the status of a protected endemic species. The birds are sparsely distributed through the ...
(''P. australis'') of the
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
and
Stewart Island
Stewart Island ( mi, Rakiura, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land ar ...
were once considered conspecific (and called the "New Zealand robin"), but
mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
sequences have shown that the two lineages split prior to the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
, and support the classification as two different species.
[Miller, Hilary C. & Lambert, David M. (2006): A molecular phylogeny of New Zealand's ''Petroica'' (Aves: Petroicidae) species based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 40(3): 844–855.]
Description
The
plumage
Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...
is dark grey-black overall, with a pale area (smaller than that of the South Island robin) on the belly and breast, and pale streaking on the upperparts. They are
sexually dimorphic
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
, with males having darker plumage than the females and being slightly larger.
Distribution and habitat
The North Island robin is distributed mostly in the centre of the North Island, with small
relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.
Biology
A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas.
Geology and geomorphology
In geology, a r ...
populations in the north and south, on Moturua Island in the
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its ...
,
Little Barrier Island
Little Barrier Island, or Hauturu in Māori language (the official Māori title is ''Te Hauturu-o-Toi''), lies off the northeastern coast of New Zealand's North Island. Located to the north of Auckland, the island is separated from the mainla ...
, and
Kapiti Island
Kapiti Island () is an island about off the west coast of the lower North Island of New Zealand. It is long, running southwest/northeast, and roughly wide, being more or less rectangular in shape, and has an area of . Its name has been used s ...
.
[Higgins, P.J. & J.M. Peter (eds) 2003. ''Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 6: Pardalotes to Shrike-thrushes. '' Oxford University Press, Melbourne. ] Populations have been reestablished in the
Zealandia sanctuary in Wellington, and at
Moehau
In New Zealand folklore, the moehau (also called the maeroero) is a creature said to dwell in the Coromandel- Moehau ranges of New Zealand's North Island. Some Māori people suggest that the creature is a descendant of the maero, but another expl ...
on the
Coromandel Peninsula
The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the we ...
. A remnant population is also reestablishing itself in the Ōhope Scenic Reserve, near
Whakatāne
Whakatāne ( , ) is the seat of the Bay of Plenty region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. Whakatāne District is the encompassing territorial authority, whi ...
; 40 birds were translocated to the reserve from
Mokoia Island __NOTOC__
Mokoia Island is located in Lake Rotorua in New Zealand. It has an area of 1.35 square kilometres. The uninhabited island is a rhyolite lava dome, rising to 180 metres above the lake surface. It was formed after the Rotorua caldera c ...
to assist the population there.
Their natural habitat is mostly native forest, particularly ''
Podocarpus
''Podocarpus'' () is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. The name comes from Greek πούς (poús, “foot”) + καρπός (karpós, “fruit”). ''Podocarpus'' species ...
'' and southern beech (
Nothofagaceae
''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...
) forests, from sea level up to the tree-line.
Behaviour
Feeding
The North Island robin, like the South Island robin, is a terrestrial feeder foraging on or near the ground (unlike the related and more arboreal
tomtit
The tomtit (''Petroica macrocephala'') is a small passerine bird in the family Petroicidae
The bird family Petroicidae includes 51 species in 19 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific ...
). Prey items are located by perch-hunting, where an individual waits at an elevated perch until prey is spotted, or by active searching; prey is taken from the leaf-litter, low vegetation (branches and foliage), and tree trunks. Numerous
invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
prey are taken, including
cicada
The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...
s,
earthworm
An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...
s,
wētā
Wētā (also spelt weta) is the common name for a group of about 100 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae endemic to New Zealand. They are giant flightless crickets, and some are among the heaviest insects in th ...
, snails, and spiders. Fruit is also taken.
North Island robins cache food supplies for later when prey is plentiful, although males cache more food than females do.
[Burns, K.C. & Steer J (2006) "Dominance rank influences food hoarding in New Zealand Robins ''Petroica australis''" ''Ibis'' 148: 266–272] Both sexes will steal food from their mate's cache, and are less likely to cache food, if their mate is present.
Gallery
File:Juvenile NZ Robin.jpg, left, Juvenile begging for food
File:North Island Robin with weta.jpg, this robin has caught a tree wētā
File:NZ North Island Robin-3.jpg, Standing perfectly still on a perch awaiting prey
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3316087
North Island robin
The North Island robin (''Petroica longipes'') is a species of Australasian robin endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is also known in Māori as the Toutouwai. It and the South Island robin (''P. australis'') of the South Island an ...
Birds of the North Island
North Island robin
The North Island robin (''Petroica longipes'') is a species of Australasian robin endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is also known in Māori as the Toutouwai. It and the South Island robin (''P. australis'') of the South Island an ...
North Island robin
The North Island robin (''Petroica longipes'') is a species of Australasian robin endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is also known in Māori as the Toutouwai. It and the South Island robin (''P. australis'') of the South Island an ...
Endemic birds of New Zealand