Stephens Island wren

Stephens Island wren
1895 illustration by John Keulemans

Extinct  (1895?)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Suborder: Acanthisitti
Family: Acanthisittidae
Genus: Xenicus
Species: X. lyalli
Binomial name
Xenicus lyalli
(Rothschild, 1894)

The Stephens Island wren or Lyall's wren (Xenicus (Traversia) lyalli) was a nocturnal, flightless, insectivorous passerine belonging to the family of New Zealand wrens.[2][3] It was driven extinct, apparently by introduced cats, around 1900.[4]

Taxonomy

The Stephens Island wren was long remembered in local mythos as the only known species to be entirely wiped out by a single living being: the local lighthouse keeper's cat, named Tibbles. However, this belief was erroneous;[4] while this cat did kill one of the last birds seen, a few more specimens were obtained in the following years, by which time the island also hosted numerous feral cats. The scientific name commemorates the assistant lighthouse keeper, David Lyall, who first brought the bird to the attention of science. Originally, the bird was described as a distinct genus, Traversia, in honor of naturalist and curio dealer Henry H. Travers who procured many specimens from Lyall, but is currently considered to be part of the Xenicus wrens, which are not true wrens, but a similar-looking New Zealand lineage of primitive passerines, the Acanthisittidae.[5]

The Stephens Island wren is the best known of the few (five or so) flightless passerines (songbirds) known to science,[6] all of which were inhabitants of islands and are now extinct. The others were relatives of Xenicus and the long-legged bunting from Tenerife, all of which were only discovered recently and became extinct in prehistoric times. In addition, the bushwren (Xenicus longipes), another acanthisittid recently extinct, was largely flightless.

Habitat and distribution

Stephens Island as seen from D'Urville Island

Historically, the species was found only on Stephens Island. Prehistorically it had been widespread throughout New Zealand before the land was settled by the Māori.[7][8][9] Its disappearance from there was probably due to predation by the kiore (Polynesian rat, Rattus exulans), introduced by the Māori.[10] The presence of a flightless bird on an island separated from the mainland by 3.2 km may seem puzzling, along with the presence of Hamilton's frog (which is killed by exposure to salt water), but Stephens Island was connected to the mainland during the last glaciation, when sea levels were lower.

Extinction

Stephens Island wrens by John Gerrard Keulemans
1905 illustration of a female and male, by Keulemans

Much of what is commonly assumed to be established knowledge about this species' extinction is wrong or misinterpreted, starting with the account by Rothschild (1905) who claimed that a single cat had killed all the birds.[11] The research of Galbreath & Brown (2004) and Medway (2004) has uncovered much of the actual history of the bird during the short time it was known to researchers.[12][4]

Specimens

15 specimens (excluding prehistoric bones) are now known. Additionally, there are some uncertainties suggesting that some additional ones might have existed.

See also

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Traversia lyalli". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. Rothschild, Walter (1894): A new species from Stephens Island. Bull. B. O. C. 4(22): 10.
  3. Rothschild, Walter (1895): Notes on Xenicus lyalli. Ibis 7(1): 268-269.
  4. 1 2 3 Medway, D.G. (2004) The land bird fauna of Stephens Island, New Zealand in the early 1890s, and the cause of its demise. Notornis, 51:201-211.
  5. del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Christie, D. (2004) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-69-5.
  6. Millener, P.R. (1989) The only flightless passerine: the Stephens Island Wren (Traversia lyalli: Acanthisittidae). Notornis 36(4): 280–284.
  7. Worthy, T.H. & Holdaway, R.N. (1994) "Scraps from an owl's table---predator activity as a significant taphonomic process newly recognised from New Zealand Quaternary deposits." Alcheringa 18: 229–245.
  8. Millener, P.R. (1984) New Zealand theses in Earth Sciences: The Ouaternarv avifauna of the North Island. New Zealand. PhD, 1981. Universitv of Auckland-2 vols.; kviii + 897 up. (abstract). NZ J. Geol. Geophys. 27: 99–100.
  9. Millener, P.R. (1988) "Contributions to New Zealand's Late Quaternary avifauna I: Pachyplichas, a new genus of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae), with two new species." J. Roy. Soc. NZ 18(4): 1x1–An6
  10. Tyrberg, T. & Milberg, P. (1991) Xenicus lyalli exterminated by Polynesias rats and lighthousekeepers cats. Var Fagelvarld, 505: 15-18.
  11. Rothschild, W. (1905) "On extinct and vanishing birds." Proceedings of the 4th International Ornithological Congress, London: 191–217.
  12. Galbreath, R. & Brown, D. (2004) The tale of the lighthouse-keeper's cat: Discovery and extinction of the Stephens Island wren (Traversia lyalli). Notornis, 51(4): 193–200. http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_51_4_193.pdf
  13. "Traversia lyalli". Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 18 July 2010.

External links

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