Kingdom Animalia Order Passeriformes Subfamily Carduelinae Scientific name Hemignathus obscurus Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Family Fringillidae Genus Akialoa Higher classification Hemignathus | |
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Similar Akialoa, Hemignathus, Bird, Greater ʻamakihi, Kona grosbeak | ||
The lesser ʻakialoa (Akialoa obscura) was a species of finch in the Fringillidae family. It was endemic to Hawaii. It became extinct due to habitat loss. It disappeared at around the same time as its Oahu cousin.
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Description
It was a yellowish bird with a two-inch-long thin whitish-yellow bill. It had small olive green wings which it used to flit from tree to tree to look for insects like beetles and caterpillars.
Behavior
It was seen gleaning the trees in search of insects. The bill of the akialoa was also designed for more than bug extraction. The akialoa also fed on nectar in the flowers of lobelias and o’hia blossoms. Its long bill could easily fit into petals of long flowers and took pollen from flower to flower on its forehead. It was collected at several places. It was once thought to be the same species as the Maui and Oahu form, but when specimens were compared all together the scientist saw that all three were different species.
Extinction
With the loss of the trees and the flowers, the bird had no shelter or food and disappeared in 1940.