The bushwren (''Xenicus longipes''), also known as the mātuhituhi 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 ...

, was a very small and almost

flightless bird Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites (ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwi) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the ...

that was endemic to

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 had three subspecies on each of the major islands of New Zealand, the North Island, South Island, and Stewart Island and nearby smaller islands. The species disappeared gradually after the introduction of invasive mammalian predators, last being seen on the North Island in 1955 and the South Island in 1968. Attempts were made to save the remaining population on small islands off Stewart Island, but they ultimately failed with the death of the last remaining known birds in 1972.

Taxonomy

German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the bushwren in 1789.

Description

It grew to about 9 cm long and 16 g in weight. It fed mostly on

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 ...

s, which it captured by running along the branches of trees. It nested on or near the ground.

Extinction

It was widespread throughout the main islands of the country until the late 19th century when

mustelids The Mustelidae (; from Latin ''mustela'', weasel) are a family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks and wolverines, among others. Mustelids () are a diverse group and form the largest famil ...

were introduced and joined rats as invasive mammalian predators. The only authenticated reports of the North Island subspecies (''X. l. stokesi'') since 1900 were from the southern

Rimutaka Range The Remutaka Range (spelled Rimutaka Range before 2017) is the southernmost range of a mountain chain in the lower North Island of New Zealand. The chain continues north into the Tararua, then Ruahine Ranges, running parallel with the east co ...

in 1918 and the

Urewera Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, a large part of which is within a protected area designated in 2014, that was formerly Te Urewera National Park. Te Urewera is ...

s up to 1955, with probable sightings on June 13, 1949, near

Lake Waikareiti Lake Waikareiti, also spelt Lake Waikare Iti, is located in Te Urewera National Park in the North Island of New Zealand. A number of hiking trails are found within the catchment basin of the lake. Its formation followed a landslide 18,000 years a ...

, and several times in the first half of the 20th century in the

Huiarau Range The Huiarau Range is a range of mountains in Te Urewera in the northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Part of the spine of mountains that run roughly parallel with the island's east coast, it is a southwestern extension of the Raukumara Range, l ...

and from

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 ...

in 1911. Apparently, the last population lived in the area where

Te Urewera National Park Te Urewera National Park was a national park near the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, established as such in 1954 and disestablished in 2014, when it was replaced by a new legal entity and protected area named ''Te Urewera''. The p ...

was established, just around the time of its extinction. The last authenticated reports of the South Island subspecies (''X. l. longipes'') were from

Arthur's Pass Arthur's Pass, previously called Camping Flat then Bealey Flats, and for some time officially Arthurs Pass, is a township in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, located in the Selwyn district. It is a popular base for explorin ...

in 1966 and

Nelson Lakes National Park Nelson Lakes National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, at the northern end of the Southern Alps. It was formed after the passing of the National Parks Act in 1952. It was created in 1956 (one of four created in the 1950s). The park c ...

in 1968. There have been a few unsubstantiated reports since then from

Fiordland Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lake ...

and Nelson Lakes. The third subspecies, the Stewart Island bushwren or Stead's bushwren (''X. l. variabilis''), was found on

Stewart Island/Rakiura 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 ...

and nearby islands. It is known to have survived on Stewart Island until 1951,Dawson, E. W. (1951): Bird Notes from Stewart Island. ''Notornis'' 4(6): 146-150
PDF fulltext
/ref> but was probably exterminated there by

feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s. It lived on Kotiwhenua (Solomon) Island, being reasonably common, until the early 1960s. It survived on predator-free

Big South Cape Island Big South Cape Island or Taukihepa is an offshore island of New Zealand to the west of the southern tip of Stewart Island / Rakiura. The island has no permanent inhabitants but muttonbirders visit the island to catch the sooty shearwater, known i ...

until black rats (''R. rattus'') invaded it in 1964. The

New Zealand Wildlife Service The New Zealand Wildlife Service was a division of the Department of Internal Affairs responsible for managing wildlife in New Zealand. It was established in 1945 (as the ''Wildlife Branch'') in order to unify wildlife administration and operation ...

attempted to save the species by relocating all the birds they could capture. They caught six birds and transferred them to Kaimohu Island, where they did not survive and they finally died out in 1972.

Gallery

XenicusLongipesBuller.jpg, Illustration of ''X. l. longipes'' by

John Gerrard Keulemans Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (J. G. Keulemans) (8 June 1842 – 29 March 1912) was a Dutch bird illustrator. For most of his life he lived and worked in England, illustrating many of the best-known ornithology books of the nineteenth century. ...

Xenicus longipes longipes eggs.jpg, Eggs of ''X. l. longipes'' in 1911 Xenicus longipes, Gmelin. Bush-Wren. "Matihutihi".jpg, 1888 illustration of the head and feet of ''Xenicus longipes'' by

References

External links

3D view
of specimen RMNH 110.000 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).
Paratype specimen of ''Xenicus longipes variabilis''
in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Image of Bush Wren
from Te Ara: The Online Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Photography of Xenicus longipes
by William Herbert Guthrie-Smith
''Bush Wren / Matuhi. Xenicus longipes''.
by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006 {{Taxonbar, from=Q135443 Xenicus Extinct birds of New Zealand Species made extinct by human activities Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1789 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin Species endangered by invasive species