Stinging bird

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Stinging bird
Male stabbing bird

Male stabbing bird

Systematics
Subclass : New-jawed birds (Neognathae)
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Family : Notiomystidae
Genre : Notiomystis
Type : Stinging bird
Scientific name of the  family
Notiomystidae
Driskell , Christidis , Gill , Boles , Barker & Longmore , 2007
Scientific name of the  genus
Notiomystis
Richmond , 1908
Scientific name of the  species
Notiomystis cincta
( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1839)

The stinging bird ( Notiomystis cincta ), formerly known as the yellow banded honeydew eater or in Maori as the hihi , is a rare species of bird that is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand and some neighboring islands off the coast of New Zealand. The species has been extinct everywhere except Little Barrier Island but has recently been reintroduced on three islands and two mainland locations.

Originally, the stitch bird was to the family of honeyeater counted (Meliphagidae). However, genetic analyzes showed a closer relationship to the lobes (Callaeidae), so that it was placed in the independent family Notiomystidae in 2007 .

Appearance

The stabbing bird is a small bird. Male birds have a velvety dark cap and short white tufts of ears. A yellow band across the chest separates the black head from the rest of the body, which is gray. Females and young birds are more dull in color than the males, without the black head and the yellow chest band. The beak is quite thin and slightly curved and the tongue is long with a brush on the end for collecting nectar.

The sting bird is very active and calls frequently.

habitat

The stinging bird nests in caves high up in trees.

food

Their main diet is nectar, but the sting bird's diet includes more than 20 types of native flowers and 30 types of fruit. The stinging bird supplements its diet with small insects.

Population development and endangerment

The sting bird was still relatively common at the beginning of the European colonization of New Zealand, but its population quickly began to decline afterwards. The last sighting on the mainland was around 1880. The exact cause of the decline is unknown, but it is believed that introduced species, especially rats , and introduced diseases were responsible. Only a small population survived on Little Barrier Island. In the 1980s, the New Zealand Wildlife Service (now Department of Conservation) began relocating some individuals from there to other island areas to build additional populations. These islands are part of New Zealand's network of offshore reserves, where introduced species have been wiped out to protect rare native species such as the kakapo and the takahe .

Reintroduction on the mainland

In 2005, 60 stabbirds were released in the Karori Conservation Area near Wellington , and three chicks hatched there in October of that year. This was the first time a stabbing chick hatched on mainland New Zealand in more than 120 years.

In autumn 2007, 59 adult birds of the Tiritiri Matangi population were released in Cascade Kauri Park in the Waitakere Ranges near Auckland and the first chicks fledged there by the end of the year.

Subspecies

Plate Notiomystis cincta cincta by Guillaume Philidor van den Burggraaff (1790– ??) as part of the first description

There are two known subspecies:

  • Notiomystis cincta cincta ( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1839) - This subspecies ( nominate form ) is extinct. It occurred on the North Island of New Zealand.
  • Notiomystis cincta hautura Mathews , 1935

Etymology and history of research

Bernard Amé Léonard Du Bus de Gisignies described the hihi under the name Meliphaga cincta . Only later was it classified by Charles Wallace Richmond in the new genus Notiomystis . This name comes from the Greek "notios, notos νοτιος, νοτος " for "south, south" and "mystis, myeō μυστις, μυεω " for "initiate mystical, mystical methods". The specific epithet »cincta« is derived from the Latin »cinctus, cingere« for »surrounded, striped, wound around, encircled«. After all, "hautura" means Little Barrier Island in the Maori language .

literature

  • Amy Claire Driskell, Les Christidis , Brian James Gill, Walter Earl Boles, Frederick Keith Barker, Wayne Longmore: A new endemic family of New Zealand passerine birds: adding heat to a biodiversity hotspot . In: Australian Journal of Zoology . tape 55 , no. 2 , 2007, p. 73-78 , doi : 10.1071 / ZO07007 .
  • James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
  • Bernard Amé Léonard Du Bus de Gisignies: Description d'une nouvelle espèce de Philédon de la Nouvelle-Zélande . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 6 , no. 4 , 1839, pp. 295-297 ( online [accessed November 28, 2014]).
  • Gregory Macalister Mathew: Mr. Gregory M. Mathew sent the following descriptions of a new Stich-bird and a new Tit from New Zealand, and of a new Prion from Australia . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 55 , no. 84 , 1935, pp. 159-160 ( online [accessed November 28, 2014]).
  • Charles Wallace Richmond: Generic names applied to birds during the years 1901 to 1905, inclusive, with further additions to Waterhouse's "Index Generum Avium" . In: Proceedings of the United States National Museum. tape 35 , no. 1656 , 1908, pp. 583-655 ( online [accessed November 28, 2014]).

Web links

Commons : Stichvogel ( Notiomystis cincta )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amy Claire Driskell et al. a., pp. 73-78.
  2. ↑ IOC World Bird List Australasian babblers, logrunners, satinbirds, painted berrypeckers, wattlebirds & whipbirds
  3. ↑ a b Bernard Amé Léonard Du Bus de Gisignies, p. 295.
  4. ^ Bernard Amé Léonard Du Bus de Gisignies, p. 296.
  5. ^ Gregory Macalister Mathews, p. 159.
  6. ^ Charles Wallace Richmond, p. 634, footnote d.
  7. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 275.
  8. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 107.
  9. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 187.