Lesser ʻakialoa

The lesser ʻakialoa (Akialoa obscura) was a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It was endemic to the island of Hawaii. It became extinct due to habitat loss. It disappeared at around the same time as its Oahu cousin.

Lesser ʻakialoa
Specimen

Extinct  (1940)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: †Akialoa
Species:
†A. obscura
Binomial name
†Akialoa obscura
JF Gmelin, 1788
Synonyms

Hemignathus obscurus

Description
Illustration

It was a yellowish bird with a two-inch-long thin whitish-yellow bill. It had small olive green wings which it used to flit from tree to tree to look for insects like beetles and caterpillars.

Behavior

It was seen gleaning the trees in search of insects. The bill of the akialoa was also designed for more than bug extraction. The akialoa also fed on nectar in the flowers of lobeliads and o’hia blossoms. Its long bill could easily fit into petals of long flowers and took pollen from flower to flower on its forehead. It was collected at several places. It was once thought to be the same species as the Maui and Oahu form, but when specimens were compared all together the scientist saw that all three were different species.

Extinction

With the loss of the trees and the flowers, the bird had no shelter or food and disappeared in 1940.[1]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Hemignathus obscurus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


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