Lānaʻi Hookbill
Names
- Common Name: Lāna’i hookbill
- Scientific: Dysmorodrepanis munroi
Song
No recording available.
Conservation Status
Extinct. Last recorded sighting in 1913.
Species information
The Lānaʻi hookbill was endemic to the island of Lāna’i. They were recognized by yellow and olive-colored plumage. Additionally, their bills were very distinctive as the maxilla (upper bill) was decurved (facing downwards) and the mandible (lower bill) was facing upwards. Early scientists thought this adaptation to be a deformity, and remains a mystery to this day, as its diet of berries did not support the development of such a unique bill. The Lānaʻi hookbill is known from a single specimen collected by Munro in the Kaiholena Valley at a high elevation of about 600 m (Pyle 2017). This is the only one specimen in existence and is recorded to have had berries found in its stomach. The Lānaʻi hookbill became extinct in 1913.
Distribution
Lānaʻi
Habitat
Munro (1927, 1944) felt that the Lānaʻi hookbill relied on ʻakoko forests on Lānaʻi, which were cleared in the early 1900s for pineapple fields (Snetsinger 2020, Pyle 2017).
Threats
The Lāna’i’s source of food was wiped out due to the development of pineapple fields (Pyle 2017).
Photos
Illustration by N. Pazant from Wilson Bull. 101: frontispiece (1989)
Additional Resources
The following references were used by Maui student, Eliot Carter, to develop a profile for the Lānaʻi hookbill. Eliot Carter is a 10th grader on Maui. Eliot has great interest in Hawaiian birds. Volunteering at Bishop Museum for 5 years has contributed to this interest. Eliot’s passion and efforts have supported the findings related to Hawai’i’s extinct forest birds.
James, H. F., R. L. Zusi and S. L. Olson. (1989). Dysmorodrepanis munroi (Fringillidae: Drepanidini), a valid genus and species of Hawaiian finch. Wilson Bulletin 101 (2):159-179.
Perkins, R. C. L. (1919). On a new genus and species of bird of the family Drepanididae from the Hawaiian Islands. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., series 9 3 (13):250-252.
Pratt, H. D. (2005). The Hawaiian honeycreepers: Drepanidinae. Bird Families of the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Snetsinger, T. J., M. H. Reynolds, and C. M. Herrmann (2020). Lanai Hookbill
(Dysmorodrepanis munroi), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.
This research was also supported by Bishop Museum’s RLP monographs. The following citation applies.