| Drepanis funerea |
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| |
| Kingdom |
Animalia |
Courtesy
by Alexander Lang.
Copyright
©
Ausgerottete Arten.
All rights reserved.
|
| Phylum |
Chordata |
| Class |
Aves
(Birds) |
| Order |
Passeriformes |
| Family |
Drepanididae |
| Authority |
Newton,
1893 |
| |
| English
Name |
Black
Mamo, Perkin's Mamo |
| Danish
Name |
Sortamo |
| Dutch
Name |
Zwarte
Mamo |
| Finnish
Name |
Tuhkamamo |
| French
Name |
Drépanide
Noir |
| German
Name |
Schwarzer
Mamo |
| Hawaiian
Name |
O'o
nuku'umu, Hoa |
| Italian
Name |
Mamo Nero |
| Spanish Name |
Mamo
de Negro |
| Swedish
Name |
Svart
Mamo |
| |
| Characteristics |
What
we know about the black mamo comes almost exclusively from the account of
R.C.L. Perkins (1903). He believed that in most respects, including the
voice, this species closely resembled the Hawaii mamo, Drepanis
pacifica. Adults' plumage is lustreless black apart from a whitish
patch on its outer webs of primaries. The bill was black but with a patch
of yellow at the base of the maxilla. Its iris was yellowish brown and the
legs and feet were black. Both sexes were alike although the beak of the
male is perhaps longer and the female may be generally smaller. (Fuller,
2000) Their beak was long and curved. (Day, 1981) |
| |
| Lifestyle |
Black
mamos were so tame that their discovered was able to watch them as very
close quarters as they worked their way from one large flower to another.
(Fuller, 2000) |
| |
| Range
& Habitat |
This
bird was only ever seen in forest understorey on Moloka'i, Hawai'i, USA,
although fossils are known from the adjacent Maui. (BirdLife International
2004) Perkins recorded it on Moloka'i at a height of 1.525m (5.000ft) only
in the underbrush, rarely seeing black mamos more than 3.6m (12ft) from
the ground and never observing them to land high up in a large tree. (Fuller,
2000) |
| |
| Food |
Perkins
described the black mamo as a 'true honey sucker', by which he meant that
none of the birds he dissected contained animal food. Their tongues darted
very rapid in and out. Like Hawaiian mamos, these birds favoured arborescent
lobelias as food source. They spend only a few seconds over each flower. (Fuller,
2000) |
| |
| History
& Population |
R.C.L.
Perkins first discovered this beautiful jet-black bird in 1893 in Pelekunu
Valley on Molokai. The species
was last collected by Alanson Bryan
in June 1907 at Moanui, Molokai. He commented the following about the
shooting: "To my joy I found the mangled remains hanging in the tree
in a thick bunch of leaves, six feet or more beyond where it had been
sitting. It was, as I feared, very badly mutilated. However, it
was made into a very fair cabinet skin." Claims of sightings were
made afterwards further to the east of the island. Intensive
searches in the subsequent few decades, like one in 1936, could find no
sign of this species. (BirdLife International 2004, Bishop
Museum 2001, Day 1981, Fuller 2000, Heywood
2000) |
| |
| Extinction
Causes |
Its
extinction was probably largely caused by the destruction of its
understorey habitat by introduced cattle and deer, and predation by rats
and mongooses. (BirdLife International 2004) |
| |
| Museum
Specimens |
Preserved
specimens can be found in
Bremen, Boston, Honolulu, London, and New York. (Heywood, 2000) |
| |
| Relatives |
Its
closest relative was the now also extinct Hawaii Mamo, Drepanis
pacifica (Gmelin, 1788). |
| |
| Links |
Black
Mamo
Extinction:
Black Mamo UWSP GEOG358 [Heywood]
|
| |
| References |
BirdLife
International 2004. Drepanis funerea. In: IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species. <www.redlist.org>.
Downloaded on 15 November 2005.
Bishop Museum. 2001. Hawaii's
Extinct Species - Birds - Black Mamo. (http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/endangered/mamo.html).
Downloaded on 15 November 2005.
Day,
D. 1981. The Doomsday Book of Animals. Ebury Press, London.
Fuller, E. 2000. Extinct birds.
Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Heywood, N.C. 2000. Extinction:
Black Mamo - (Drepanis funerea). University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. (http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/heywood/geog358/extinctb/BlackMam.htm)
Downloaded on 15 November 2005.
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Last
updated: 29th November 2007.
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page is a part of The
Extinction Website.
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