Ula-ai-hawane (Ciridops anna)
Posted on 31 December, 1937 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1937
Comments:
This species is known from Hawaii's Big Island, USA, but it is now Extinct due to logging of its forest habitat. The last confirmed records date from 1892.
Habitat:
It inhabited ohia and loulu palm Pritchardia forest on both the windward (Hilo District and the Kohala mountains) and leeward (Kona District) sides of Hawai`i. Tongue morphology suggests that it fed on nectar.
Causes:
Nothing is known about the causes of its extinction (Greenway 1967), although deforestation and avian malaria are likely to have been contributing factors. Habitat change may have exposed the population to unusually high numbers of rats (W.E. Banko and P.C. Banko 2009).
Distribution:
Ciridops anna was endemic to Hawaii, USA. It is only known from five specimens, in Harvard, Honolulu, New York and Tring (Greenway 1967), the latter with two (Knox and Walters 1994), and a possible sight record in 1937 (Munro 1944). Fossils of the genus have been found on Kaua'i, Moloka'i and O'ahu (James and Olson 1991). The last specimen was collected in 1892 (Greenway 1967).