Chatham Islands Bellbird (Anthornis melanocephala)
Posted on 31 December, 1906 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1906
Comments:
This species was found in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, but it is now Extinct, probably mainly as a result of habitat loss. It was last recorded in 1906, and a search for it in 1938 was unsuccessful.
Habitat:
It inhabited the islands' dense forest.
Causes:
The reasons for its decline are obscure, but were probably a combination of habitat destruction, predation by introduced rats and cats (Greenway 1967), and over-collection for the museum trade (Oliver 1955).
Distribution:
Anthornis melanocephala was endemic to Chatham, Mangere and Little Mangere Islands, New Zealand (Greenway 1967). The last records were in 1906 from Little Mangere (Fleming 1939). An expedition in 1938 hoping to rediscover the species found no trace of it (Tennyson and Martinson 2006).