Hawaiian honeycreeper


Hawaiian honeycreepers are small, passerine birds endemic to Hawaii. They are closely related to the rosefinches in the genus Carpodacus. Their great morphological diversity is the result of adaptive radiation in an insular environment.
Before the introduction of molecular phylogenetic techniques, the relationship of the Hawaiian honeycreepers to other bird species was controversial. The honeycreepers were sometimes categorized as a family Drepanididae, other authorities considered them a subfamily, Drepanidinae, of Fringillidae, the finch family. The entire group was also called "Drepanidini" in treatments where buntings and American sparrows are included in the finch family; this term is preferred for just one subgroup of the birds today. Most recently, the entire group has been subsumed into the finch subfamily Carduelinae.

Characteristics

Nearly all species of Hawaiian Honeycreepers have been noted as having a unique odor to their plumage, described by many researchers as "rather like that of old canvas tents".
Today, the flowers of the native ōhia are favored by a number of nectarivorous honeycreepers. The wide range of bill shapes in this group, from thick, finch-like bills to slender, down-curved bills for probing flowers have arisen through adaptive radiation, where an ancestral finch has evolved to fill a large number of ecological niches. Some 20 species of Hawaiian honeycreeper have become extinct in the recent past, and many more in earlier times, following the arrival of humans who introduced non-native animals and converted habitat for agriculture.

Genera and species

The term "prehistoric" indicates species that became extinct between the initial human settlement of Hawaii and European contact in 1778.
Subfamily Carduelinae
Hawaiian honeycreepers were formerly classified into three tribes – Hemignathini, Psittirostrini, and Drepanidini – but they are not currently classified as such.

Cited references

Other references