Huia
Male (front) and female Huia
Conservation status
Extinct  (1907)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Callaeidae Genus: Heteralocha Cabanis, 1851 Species: H. acutirostris
Binomial name
Heteralocha acutirostris (Gould, 1837)
Synonyms
Neomorpha acutirostris Neomorpha crassirostris (male) Heteralocha gouldi Image File history File links Subject : Huia Author : J. G. Keulemans. ... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... Image File history File links Status_none_EX.svg‎ Graphic diagram for the IUCN Red List categories. ... In biology and ecology, extinction is the ceasing of existence of a species or group of species. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... Digimon, the only known animals. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... For other meanings of bird, see bird (disambiguation). ... Families Many, see text A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. ... Genera  Callaeas  Philesturnus  Heteralocha The small bird family Callaeidae is restricted to New Zealand. ... Jean Louis Cabanis. ... 1851 (MDCCCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... John Gould John Gould (14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... In scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names used for a single taxon. ...

The Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) was a bird endemic to New Zealand. It is now extinct, with no reliable sightings since W.W. Smith saw three birds in the Tararua Ranges on 28 December 1907. “Aves” redirects here. ... The Dodo, shown here in illustration, is an often-cited[1] example of modern extinction. ... The Tararua Range (often referred to as the Tararua Ranges) is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand which form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Description

The bird had blue-black plumage, bright orange wattles at the gape and white-tipped tail feathers. It was the only bird known in which the bills of the male and female were radically different. The male's beak was short (approximately 60 mm) and straight while the female's beak was long and curved (up to 100 mm), a striking example of sexual dimorphism. Huia had been little studied by Western naturalists before they were driven to extinction. Closeup on a single white feather A feather is one of the epidermal growths that forms the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on a bird. ... Wattle has several meanings: In engineering terms, originally wattle referred collectively to the flexible rods, branches or twigs from various plants woven together to make fences, walls and roofs (see wattle-and-daub). ... Binomial name Syngamus trachea A gapeworm (Syngamus trachea) is a parasitic nematode worm infecting the tracheas of certain birds. ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ... Female (left) and male Common Pheasant, illustrating the dramatic difference in both color and size between the sexes Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. ...

Distribution and Habitat

Subfossil bones of Huia have been found in several North Island sites; however, live birds were only recorded by European settlers in southern areas of the island, normally the Tararua and Rimutaka Ranges. The bird shares its name with a small community in the Waitakere Ranges, where it may have once been found. Huia moved mainly on foot, flying weakly, and would call with a shrill whistle to ensure other members of the cohort were close by. An imitation of the bird's call survives as a recording of a 1909 Huia Search Team member, Henare Haumana whistling the call (NZ Sound Archives). The bird's common name may have been derived from its call. North Island The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. ... The Rimutaka Range (often referred to as the Rimutaka Ranges) is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand which form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington. ... The Waitakere Ranges are a chain of hills generally running approximately 25 km from north to south generally 25 km west of central Auckland, New Zealand. ...

Decline and extinction

Hinepare, a woman of the Ngāti Kahungunu tribe, wearing Huia feathers in her hair

Huia, Museum Wiesbaden

Several naturalists, including Buller, noted that the birds were already in decline when European settlers arrived. The Huia's distinctive white-tipped black tail feathers were often worn by Māori chiefs as a sign of their status. Such feathers were revered as taonga (treasures) by Māori. The wearing of feathers as ornaments was later adopted by Pākehā women as a symbol of social standing. The birds were inqusitive and trapped easily upon imitation of their call — in 1888, a party of 11 Māori obtained 646 Huia skins from the forest between the Manawatu Gorge and Akitio. In February 1892, regulations making it illegal to kill or take Huia were passed; however, enforcement was not taken seriously. The visit of the Duke of York, later King George V, to New Zealand in 1901 produced a frenzied demand for Huia feathers, especially after the Duke wore a Huia tail feather in his hatband. The price of feathers was reportedly pushed to one pound each. The then Governor General, the Earl of Onslow, tried to provide further legal protection for the Huia, but the bird was reported extinct shortly afterwards. The last "official" sighting was on 28 December 1907 - but lingering reports after this date suggest the species extinction came a little later. A man familiar with the species reported seeing three Huia in Gollans Valley behind York Bay (between Petone and Eastbourne, Wellington) on 28 December 1922. ^[1] Huia had been seen many times in this area before (there were also reports of sightings here in 1912 and 1913) and this area of mixed beech and podocarp forest was well within the bird's known range - sadly, no effort was made by naturalists from the Wellington Museum to investigate. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 467 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (545 × 700 pixel, file size: 62 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Huia Hei-tiki... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 467 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (545 × 700 pixel, file size: 62 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Huia Hei-tiki... Image File history File links Lappenhopf_fg01. ... Image File history File links Lappenhopf_fg01. ... Museum Wiesbaden is a museum in the Hessian capital Wiesbaden, Germany. ... Sir Walter Lawry Buller (October 9, 1838 - July 19, 1906) was a New Zealand lawyer, naturalist and ornithologist. ... Languages Māori, English Religions Māori religion, Christianity Related ethnic groups other Polynesian peoples, Austronesian peoples The word Māori refers to the indigenous people of New Zealand and their language. ... Pākehā is a term generally used to describe New Zealanders of Anglo/European extraction, but some Māori may use it to refer to any non-Māori person. ... The Manawatu Gorge (in Maori Te Apiti, meaning The Narrow Passage) runs between the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges of the North Island of New Zealand, linking the Manawatu and Hawkes Bay regions. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The title Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. ... George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 - 20 January 1936) was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, as a result of his creating it from the British branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the Sovereign in right of New Zealand (currently, Queen Elizabeth II). ... Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now usually viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines. ... Te Papa (Our Place), The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum of New Zealand. ...

Behaviour

Diet

Sexual dimorphism of the bill structure resulted in feeding strategies that differed radically between the sexes: The male used his bill to chisel into outer layers of decaying or live wood, whereas the female probed into areas inaccessible to the male, e.g. burrows of insect larvae in living wood. Anatomy of the male bird's head and neck musculature also suggests the male could insert his bill into rotting wood and force his bill open to split the wood. Diet consisted of insects and their larvae, spiders, and small berries. Orders See taxonomy Insects (Class Insecta) are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth, with over a million described species — more than all other animal groups combined [1]. Insects may be found in nearly all environments on the planet, although only a... A larva (Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile form of animal with indirect development, undergoing metamorphosis (for example, insects or amphibians). ... Diversity 111 families, 40,000 species Suborders Mesothelae Mygalomorphae Araneomorphae  See table of families Closeup image of a Wolf Spider Wikispecies has information related to: Spiders Spiders are predatory invertebrate animals that have two body segments, eight legs, no chewing mouth parts and no wings. ...

Contrary to the popularized notion, the meals were not usually shared between pairs (although it may have occasionally occurred to strengthen the pair bond; as far as it is known, the huia was monogamous). Also, the birds did generally not cooperate in feeding, at least not in a strict sense. All such reports are based on misreading of a single account by Buller (1888), which in any case referred to a pair kept in captivity (Jamieson & Spencer, 1996). Rather, the differing bills represent an extreme example of niche differentiation, by which intraspecific competition between the sexes was reduced. Thus, the species as a whole could utilize a wider range of food sources better (Moorhouse, 1996). This phenomenon is not unique, but most pronounced in the huia, woodhoopoes and some birds of paradise (Frith, 1997) show a similar, but less extreme dimorphism, and the bills of many hummingbirds show sexual differences in length uncoupled to variations in body size, for example. In monogamy (Greek: monos = single/only and gamos = marriage) a person has only one spouse at a time (as opposed to polygamy). ... The term niche differentiation (synonymous with niche segregation and niche separation), as it applies to the field of ecology, refers to the process by which natural selection drives competing species into different patterns of resource use or different niches. ... Intraspecific competition is the interaction between members of the same species that vie for the same resource in an ecosystem (e. ... Genera Phoeniculus Rhinopomastos The Woodhoopoes are an small African family of near passerine birds. ... For the flowering plant of this name, see Strelitzia Genera Cicinnurus Diphyllodes Epimachus Lophorina Manucodia Paradisaea Parotia Ptiloris Seleucidis Lesser Bird of Paradise Paradisaea minor (c)Roderick Eime The birds of paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes, found in Oceania. ... For the Australian jangle pop band, see The Hummingbirds. ...

Reproduction

The breeding season was thought to be early summer, with the birds constructing a saucer-shaped nest about 35 cm across. Two to four greyish eggs of 30 to 40 mm were normally laid.

Parasites

A species of phtilopterid louse has been described from the huia. Rallicola extinctus (Palma, 1999), formerly considered the only species of a separate genus Huiacola ("Huia inhabitant"), apparently became extinct with its host (Mey, 1990). The Ischnocera is a large suborder of lice mostly parasitic on birds but including a large family (the Trichodectidae) parasitic on mammals. ... Suborders Anoplura (sucking lice) Rhyncophthirina Ischnocera (avian lice) Amblycera (chewing lice) Lice (singular: louse), also known as fly babies, (order Phthiraptera) are an order of over 3,000 species of wingless phthiraptra. ... Coextinction of a species is the loss of one species upon the extinction of another. ...

External links

• TerraNature page on huia
• TerraNature pages on New Zealand wattlebirds

References

1. ^ Morris, R. & Smith, H. (1995): Wild South: Saving New Zealand's Endangered Birds (2nd edition). Random House New Zealand

• BirdLife International (2004). Heteralocha acutirostris. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as extinct

• Buller, W. L. (1888) A History of the Birds of New Zealand (2nd edition). Published by the author, London.

• Frith, C. B. (1997): Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris: Callaeidae)-like sexual bill dimorphism in some birds of paradise (Paradisaeidae) and its significance. Notornis 44(3): 177-184. PDF fulltext

• Gill, B. & Martinson, P. (1991) New Zealand's Extinct Birds Random Century, Auckland

• Jamieson, I. G. & Spencer, H. G. (1996): The bill and foraging behaviour of the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris): were they unique? Notornis 43(1): 14–18. PDF fulltext

• Mey, Eberhard (1990): Eine neue ausgestorbene Vogel-Ischnozere von Neuseeland, Huiacola extinctus (Insecta, Phthiraptera). Zoologischer Anzeiger 224(1/2): 49-73. [German with English abstract] PDF fulltext

• 'Moorhouse, R. J. (1996): The extraordinary bill dimorphism of the Huia (Heteraclocha acutirostris): sexual selection or intersexual competition? Notornis 43(1): 19–34. PDF fulltext

• Palma, R. L. (1999): Amendments and additions to the 1982 list of chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from birds in New Zealand. Notornis 46(3): 373–387. PDF fulltext

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Heteralocha acutirostris