For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for Long-billed wren (New Zealand).

Long-billed wren (New Zealand)

Long-billed wren
Temporal range: Pleistocene–Holocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Acanthisittidae
Genus: Dendroscansor
Millener & Worthy 1991
Species:
D. decurvirostris
Binomial name
Dendroscansor decurvirostris
Millener & Worthy 1991

The long-billed wren (Dendroscansor decurvirostris) is an extinct species of New Zealand wren formerly endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. It was the only species in the genus Dendroscansor. It shares the name "long-billed wren" with the Brazilian bird Cantorchilus longirostris.

New Zealand's long-billed wren was a small bird with stout legs and tiny wings. Its reduced sternum suggests that it had weak flight muscles and was probably flightless, like the recently extinct Lyall's wren. Its weight is estimated at 30 g, which makes it heavier than any surviving New Zealand wren, but lighter than the also-extinct stout-legged wren. The bill of this species was both long and curved, unlike that of all other acanthisittid wrens.[1]

The species is known only from subfossils at four sites in Northwest Nelson and Southland; it seems to have been absent from the North Island and eastern South Island.[2] The holotype was collected in 1986 from Moonsilver Cave, on Barrans Flat, near Takaka.[3] It is the rarest fossil wren from New Zealand and presumably was the least common species when it was still extant. It is thought to have lived in sub-alpine shrub and tussock[2] (like the surviving New Zealand rock wren) and perhaps montane southern beech forest.[4]

The long-billed wren went extinct before the arrival of European colonists and explorers in New Zealand. It was among the first wave of native bird species to go extinct after the introduction of Polynesian rats (or kiore). Like many New Zealand species, the long-billed wren presumably had few defences against novel predators such as rats.[2]

References

  1. ^ Millener, P. R.; Worthy, T.H. (1991). "Contributions to New Zealand's late Quaternary avifauna. II. Dendroscansor decurvirostris, a new genus and species of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 21 (2): 179–200. Bibcode:1991JRSNZ..21..179M. doi:10.1080/03036758.1991.10431406.
  2. ^ a b c Tennyson, Alan; Martinson, Paul (2006). Extinct Birds of New Zealand. Wellington: Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-0-909010-21-8.
  3. ^ "Object: Long-billed Wren, Dendroscansor decurvirostris Millener & Worthy, 1991; holotype". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  4. ^ Worthy, Trevor H.; Holdaway, Richard N. (2002). The Lost World of the Moa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34034-9.
{{bottomLinkPreText}} {{bottomLinkText}}
Long-billed wren (New Zealand)
Listen to this article

This browser is not supported by Wikiwand :(
Wikiwand requires a browser with modern capabilities in order to provide you with the best reading experience.
Please download and use one of the following browsers:

This article was just edited, click to reload
This article has been deleted on Wikipedia (Why?)

Back to homepage

Please click Add in the dialog above
Please click Allow in the top-left corner,
then click Install Now in the dialog
Please click Open in the download dialog,
then click Install
Please click the "Downloads" icon in the Safari toolbar, open the first download in the list,
then click Install
{{::$root.activation.text}}

Install Wikiwand

Install on Chrome Install on Firefox
Don't forget to rate us

Tell your friends about Wikiwand!

Gmail Facebook Twitter Link

Enjoying Wikiwand?

Tell your friends and spread the love:
Share on Gmail Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Buffer

Our magic isn't perfect

You can help our automatic cover photo selection by reporting an unsuitable photo.

This photo is visually disturbing This photo is not a good choice

Thank you for helping!


Your input will affect cover photo selection, along with input from other users.

X

Get ready for Wikiwand 2.0 🎉! the new version arrives on September 1st! Don't want to wait?