Wahi grosbeak
Temporal range: Early Holocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: †Chloridops
Species:
†C. wahi
Binomial name
†Chloridops wahi
James and Olson 1991

The wahi grosbeak or Oʻahu grosbeak (Chloridops wahi) is a prehistoric species of Hawaiian honeycreeper. The wahi grosbeak was endemic to dry forests on the Hawaiian islands of Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, and Maui. Based on the thickness of its bill it fed on seeds easier to crack than those of the naio (Myoporum sandwicense), on which the Kona grosbeak fed. The species was already extinct when Europeans landed on the island. Being only known from fossils, its behavior and the exact reasons for its extinction are essentially unknown.[1] Its fossils have been found throughout the islands, but were present in higher concentrations in caves. The bird was smaller than the related King Kong grosbeak (C. regiskongi) by 2 inches (5.1 cm). It had a total length of 9 inches (23 cm).[2]

References

  1. ↑ Pratt, H Douglas (2002). The Hawaiian Honeycreepers. Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-19-854653-5.
  2. ↑ James, Helen F., & Olson, Storrs L. (1991). Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part II. Passeriformes.Ornithological Monographs 46. The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington D.C.


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