The Laysan honeycreeper, Laysan honeyeater, or Laysan ʻapapane (Himatione fraithii) is an extinct species of finch that was endemic to the island of Laysan in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Laysan honeycreeper
Laysan honeycreeper photographed by Donald R. Dickey in 1923, a few days before the species became extinct

Extinct (1923) (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Himatione
Species:
H. fraithii
Binomial name
Himatione fraithii
Map of Hawaii showing Laysan in the lower left inset box
Synonyms

Himatione freethi
Himatione sanguinea freethi

Taxonomy edit

 
Illustration of an adult male Laysan honeycreeper (A), an adult female (B), and juvenile (C), and the related ʻapapane (D), by John Gerrard Keulemans, ca. 1900

The Laysan honeycreeper was first noticed on 3 April 1828 by C. Isenbeck, surgeon of the Russian ship Moller, whose report was published in an 1834 article by the German naturalist Heinrich von Kittlitz.[2][3][4] The British zoologist and banker Walter Rothschild described and named seven new bird species from Hawaii (then called the Sandwich Islands), obtained by his collector, Henry Palmer. One species from the island of Laysan was named Himatione fraithii, and classified as a member of the finch family Drepanidae. Rothschild found it to resemble the ʻapapane (Himatione sanguinea) of the same genus, while differing in various details.[5][6] The specific name was a misspelled reference to Captain George D. Freeth, the US governor of Laysan.[7][8]

In a review published in 1950, the American ornithologist Dean Amadon treated the Laysan honeycreeper as a subspecies of the ʻapapane and adopted the trinomial name Himatione sanguinea freethii.[9] Subsequent publications followed this lead.[10] In 2015 the North American Classification Committee (NACC) of the American Ornithologists' Union decided to promote the extinct honeycreeper to the species level and to adopt the original binomial name.[11] This change was adopted by the International Ornithological Committee in their world list of birds.[12]

Description edit

The Laysan honeycreeper was a small bird, measuring 13 cm (5.1 in). It was bright scarlet vermilion with a faint tint of golden orange on the head, breast and upper abdomen, while the rest of its upper parts were orange scarlet. The lower abdomen was dusky gray that faded into brownish white, and the under-tail covert feathers were grayish. The wings, tail, bill, and legs were dark brown, while the iris was black with a brown outline. Immature birds were brown, with paler lower parts, and had green edges to their wing-covert feathers.[13][8] Fisher stated in 1903 that the illustration of the Laysan honeycreeper published by Rothschild showed the bird as far too pale and gave an inaccurate idea of its color.[14]

The ʻapapane differs from the Laysan honeycreeper in being blood-red overall, with black wings and tail, whiter under-tail covert feathers, and a longer bill.[13] The American ornithologists Storrs L. Olson and Alan C. Ziegler suggested in 1995 that the difference in plumage of the Laysan honeycreeper was due to fading caused by the intense sunlight of Laysan, but pointed out it had been found to be distinct in osteological features.[15][16]

Habitat edit

In 1903, Fisher stated that the Laysan honeycreeper was found all over Laysan Island, but was most abundant in the interior among tall grass and low bushes.[14]

Behaviour and ecology edit

 
Photo of a nest, by Walter K. Fisher, 1902

Diet edit

Laysan honeycreepers fed on nectar from the native flowers on the island, especially maiapilo (Capparis sandwichiana). When populations of that species declined, it was forced to feed on nectar from ʻākulikuli (Sesuvium portulacastrum) and ʻihi (Portulaca lutea). It was observed visiting koali ʻawa (Ipomoea indica), pōhuehue (I. pes-caprae brasiliensis), and nohu (Tribulus cistoides), and would also feed on caterpillars and moths. Unlike the ʻapapane, the Laysan honeycreeper foraged on the ground.[16][17]

Breeding edit

Laysan honeycreeper primarily nested in the center of tall grass bunches, but sometimes built nests in dense ʻāheahea (Chenopodium sandwichensis) shrubs. Nests were made of rootlets interwoven with grass blades. The clutch size was four to five eggs.[16]

Extinction edit

Live specimen filmed by Dickey in 1923

Domestic rabbits were introduced to the island in the late 19th century, and quickly consumed nearly all vegetation on the island, including nectar sources for the Laysan honeycreeper. The bird was filmed in 1923 during the Tanager Expedition. Shortly after, Laysan was battered by a strong storm, and later attempts at finding any remaining Laysan honeycreeper failed.[18] Other birds also inhabited the island, including the Laysan millerbird, the Laysan rail, the Laysan duck, and the Laysan finch. Of these, only the finch and the duck remain extant.

References edit

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2017). "Himatione fraithii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T103829706A119553201. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T103829706A119553201.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. ^ von Kittlitz, Heinrich (1834). "Nachricht von den Brüteplätzen einiger tropischen Seevögel im stillen Ocean". Museum Senckenbergianum: Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der beschreibenden Naturgeschichte (in German). 1: 115–126.
  3. ^ Warner, Richard E. (1963). "Recent History and Ecology of the Laysan Duck". The Condor. 65 (1): 3–23. doi:10.2307/1365134. ISSN 0010-5422. JSTOR 1365134.
  4. ^ Pyle, Peter (2011). "Nomenclature of the Laysan Honeycreeper Himatione (sanguinea) fraithii". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 131 (2): 116–117.
  5. ^ Rothschild, Walter (1892). "Descriptions of seven new species of birds from the Sandwich Islands". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 6th series. 10 (55): 108–110. doi:10.1080/00222939208677377.
  6. ^ Rothschild, Walter (1893–1900). The avifauna of Laysan and the neighbouring islands: with a complete history to date of the birds of the Hawaiian possessions. London: R.H. Porter. pp. 141–145, 305. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.79055.
  7. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names [electronic resource]: from AALGE to ZUSII. London: Christopher Helm. p. 164. ISBN 978-1408133262.
  8. ^ a b Greenway, James C. (1967). Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World. New York: American Committee for International Wild Life Protection. pp. 408–409. ISBN 978-0-486-21869-4.
  9. ^ Amadon, Dean (1950). The Hawaiian honeycreepers (Aves, Drepaniidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol. 95. p. 174. hdl:2246/1077.
  10. ^ "Proposal 2015-A-10: Split Laysan Honeycreeper from Apapane Himatione sanguinea and change its specific epithet to fraithii" (PDF). American Ornithologists' Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-24. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  11. ^ Chesser, R. Terry; et al. (2015). "Fifty-sixth Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds". The Auk. 132 (3): 748–764. doi:10.1642/AUK-15-73.1.
  12. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Finches, euphonias". World Bird List Version 5.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  13. ^ a b Hume, J. P. (2017). Extinct Birds (2 ed.). Croydon: Bloomsbury Natural History. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-4729-3744-5.
  14. ^ a b Fisher, Walter K. (1903). "Birds of Laysan and the Leeward Islands, Hawaiian group". Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission. 23 (3): 803–804.
  15. ^ Olson, Storrs L.; Ziegler, Alan C. (1995). "Remains of land birds from Lisianski Island, with observations on the terrestrial avifauna of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands". Pacific Science. 49 (2). hdl:10088/8389. ISSN 0030-8870.
  16. ^ a b c Fancy, Steven G; C. John Ralph (1997). "ʻApapane" (PDF). In A. Poole; F. Gill (eds.). Birds of North America. Vol. 296. Academy of Natural Sciences.
  17. ^ Bryan, William Alanson; Dill, Homer R. (1912). "Report of an expedition to Laysan Island in 1911: under the joint auspices of the United States Department of Agriculture and University of Iowa /". doi:10.5962/bhl.title.62940. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ^ "1923 USS Tanager Expedition". Video. Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Mult-Agency Education Project. Archived from the original on 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2009-03-16.