Laysan honeycreeper

The Laysan honeycreeper was first recorded on Laysan Island on April 3, 1828, by C. Isenbeck, surgeon of the Russian ship Moller, which was visiting the Hawaiian Islands (then called the Sandwich Islands, and the expedition called Laysan "Moller"). His report was published in an 1834 article by the German naturalist Heinrich von Kittlitz. Isenbeck referred to a "red bird" and a "humming bird" ("" in German), in both cases probably referring to the honeycreeper, the latter due to it feeding on nectar. From 1893 to 1900, Rothschild published a three-part monograph on the birds of Laysan, with further observations about the honeycreeper, which he referred to as the "Laysan honey-eater". Though some related green species had previously also been considered part of the genus Himatione, he agreed with the American zoologist Robert C. L. Perkins that those should be moved to Chlorodrepanis, and restricted Himatione to the red species: the ʻapapane and the Laysan honeycreeper. By this time, Rothschild had realized that he had misspelled Freeth's name, and attempted to emend the spelling to freethi, but also used the spellings fraithi and freethii in sections of the work. The German zoologist Hugo H. Schauinsland used the spelling frethii in 1899. This classification was followed by most other taxonomists and the trinomial name was used throughout the 20th century. In 1950, the American ornithologist Dean Amadon considered the spelling fraithii to be a ('slip of the pen', or misspelling), and justified using freethii instead, since Rothschild later corrected the name to that. In 2005, the American ornithologist Harold D. Pratt also indicated that the name had been corrected within the original description. In 2015 the AOU implemented these propositions in their checklist. The changes were also adopted by the International Ornithological Committee in their world list of birds the same year. There are at least 105 known specimens (six of them mounted) of the Laysan honeycreeper in museums across the world, but two specimens appear to have gone missing. Some museums have multiple specimens, including 24 in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu, 20 (including the type specimen) in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and 20 in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. There are also at least two skeletons, three nests, and one egg preserved. The known specimens were collected between 1892 and 1913. The ratio of males to females between adult specimens in museum collections is 1.7:1. Amadon noted in 1950 that although the Laysan finch (Telespiza cantans) and the Laysan honeycreeper spent more time on the ground than their relatives, their power of flight was seemingly not reduced. He pointed out that the length of their wings was rather short, which perhaps indicated a beginning tendency in such a direction. The wing of the finch is shorter, perhaps because it had reached Laysan earlier than the honeycreeper. The American ornithologists Storrs L. Olson and Helen F. James considered the Laysan honeycreeper a distinct species from the ʻapapane in 1982, but without elaboration. Olson and the American ornithologist Alan C. Ziegler stated in 1995 that while the Laysan honeycreeper was often considered a subspecies of ʻapapane, its skull features indicate it was distinct and probably more primitive, and therefore perhaps a remnant of an earlier evolutionary stage rather than being particularly specialized for the conditions on Laysan. They speculated that if this bird could survive on Laysan, there could also be a niche for a relative on the nearby island of Nīhoa. They also argued that Hawaiian honeycreepers are not actually an upland group, but that this perception of them as such comes from them having been wiped out from lowland areas of Hawaii in prehistoric times by human-made habitat destruction, and that many fossils of the group (including of Himatione) have been found in areas just above sea level. They therefore disagreed with the idea that the species found there were a remnant of upland populations or necessarily ancient occupants. Pratt and the American biologist Thane K. Pratt stated in 2001 that due to its distinct physical features, the Laysan honeycreeper was unquestionably distinct from the ʻapapane following the phylogenetic species concept. They added that potential isolating mechanisms included its distinct song, feeding and nesting behavior, and its very different habitat. They found it very unlikely that the two birds would have been able to interbreed, let alone freely, and considered it likely that future researchers would split them. , the closest relative of the Laysan honeycreeper }} }} The Hawaiian honeycreepers, variously considered to constitute the family Drepanididae (formerly spelled "Drepanidae" or "Drepaniidae", a name that turned out to be nomenclaturally unavailable, because it was preoccupied by a family of moths Since the ʻapapane had been found to be the sister taxon of the ʻākohekohe (Palmeria dolei) by some studies, Pratt suggested in 2014 that their genera Himatione and Palmeria might be merged. ==Description==

, 1893–1900 The Laysan honeycreeper was a small bird, with published length measurements ranging from . The bill was slender and downturned. The sexes were alike, though the bill, wings, and tail were slightly shorter in the female. Although Rothschild stated in his 1892 description that the female was paler than the male, the American zoologist Walter K. Fisher indicated in 1903 that such differences may have been age-related instead. Fisher also noted that the illustration of the Laysan honeycreeper published by Rothschild showed the bird as far too pale, giving an inaccurate idea of its color. Pratt countered in 2005 that white undertail feathers cannot fade to brown since they lack pigmentation to begin with. Palmer reported the song of the Laysan honeycreeper as low and "sweet", consisting of several notes. He noted it was usually silent, except during the breeding season, and was in "full song" during January and February. While catching and skinning birds in 1891, Palmer caught a Laysan honeycreeper in his net, which proceeded to sing in his hand; he answered it with a whistle, which it returned, continuing for some minutes without seeming frightened. ==Habitat==

The Laysan honeycreeper was endemic to Laysan, a remote island that has a total land area of , and is the largest of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the central Pacific Ocean. Laysan is the eroded remnant of a once high island, built up by volcanic activity, perhaps the flattened top of a volcano that formed in the Miocene. The island rises into up to high crest elevations. Its subsurface substratum is coralline rock, and its topography suggests it was once part of an atoll with a lagoon that occupies about one-fifth of the island's center, and is now almost filled with sand and coral fragments. The island is ringed by sand dunes, but is otherwise well-vegetated. The island's original flora was the most varied of the northwestern Hawaiian islands, but much of it was destroyed by human activities by 1923, leaving near-desert-like conditions and several extinct plant species, though the extent of the vegetation had almost recovered by 1973. This species was the only nectar-feeding finch of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. ==Behavior and ecology==

Few naturalists encountered the Laysan honeycreeper and few accounts were left of its life history. It was very active, like the Laysan millerbird (Acrocephalus familiaris familiaris), always present in vegetation around buildings, and though perhaps less trusting than the millerbird, they were reported to sometimes enter buildings to hunt moths and for roosting at night. The Laysan honeycreeper spent the day foraging while walking like pipits after small insects or drinking from flowers with its brush-like tongue. The way it rapidly went from flower to flower and precisely inserted its bill between their petals reminded Schauinsland and Fisher of hummingbirds, though it did so by walking rather than hovering in front of them.), which were abundant on the island, and were also fed on by other insect-eating birds. The honeycreepers were observed extracting moths from between boards, grasping them with one foot (always the left according to Freeth) while eating the soft parts, leaving the wings and other hard parts. Little is known about the breeding cycle of the Laysan honeycreeper, and most observers did not record when nests and young were found. Freeth told Palmer that the bird was in "full song" in January and February, when there was also a golden gloss over the red plumage. This indicates that the breeding season was between that time and June, when Palmer saw full-grown young birds. Fisher collected a nest with an egg in mid-May, and the American zoologist William A. Bryan collected an egg on May 10. The American ornithologist Alfred M. Bailey, who visited Laysan in 1912, stated that the clutch size was four or five eggs; sets of three were taken by collectors. The ovate eggs were glossless white, with grayish blotches and spots at the larger end, and reddish brown spots above them, these markings often forming circles. The eggs varied in size, but a typical egg measured . The eggs were similar to those of the short-toed treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla) and the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), but much less glossy. ==Extinction==

The few observations of the Laysan honeycreeper indicate it was not abundant on Laysan to begin with, and only three population estimates were made. Isenbeck already considered the bird uncommon when visiting in 1828 in the first report of the species; Palmer considered it the rarest of the island's birds in 1890, though finding them in fair numbers, and Fisher gave a similar assessment in 1903. Laysan was exploited for the guano produced by its large seabird colonies from 1890, but this became unprofitable by 1904. The German superintendent of the guano operation, Max Schlemmer, introduced domestic rabbits, European hares, and guinea pigs to the island in 1903 to start a meat-canning business that would provide food for guano miners and to amuse his children. The venture did not succeed, but the rabbits proceeded to destroy the island's vegetation. Bailey recalled in 1956 that a singing honeycreeper perched on a dead hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus) tree was the first bird to greet him and the Canadian ornithologist George Willett when they visited Laysan in 1912. They were less common than other birds, but were constantly around the building the researchers inhabited. Because of the rapidly disappearing vegetation, the birds were confined to patches of wild tobacco, the few remaining Scaevola plants, and grass tufts. The American ornithologists Charles A. Ely and Roger B. Clapp pointed out in 1973 that Munter's estimates were perhaps too generous, as he did not consider them numerous the following year. Their deaths were attributed to the lack of cover during the storm. ==References==