Telespiza persecutrix (Kauai Finch)

[another specialist]

Telespiza persecutrix
Olson & James 1991
Holocene of Kauai, Hawaiian Islands
Primary materials: Holotype: nearly complete maxilla
Secondary materials: Paratypes: maxillae

Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James,
Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part II. Passeriformes
Ornithological Monographs 46 (1991)
The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington D.C.

[Melanie]

Bones of this new species of Hawaiian finch were discovered on June 23,1981 by A. Sinoto and P.C. McCoy at Barbers Point, Oahu. Bones have also been recovered at Ulupau Head, Oahu and Makawehi Dunes, Kauai. The bill of this species is smaller then T.cantans or T.ultima but larger then T. ypsilon, another newly described species.

Olson and James write, "Of all the new species of drepanidines, this is the least differentiated in bill osteology. Nevertheless, the size differences between the three taxa are statistically significant.

This is one more species that was once found on Oahu but is only know from the fossil record.

[another specialist]

above info from www.oahunaturetours.com/telespiza.html

[another specialist]

commonly called the Kaua'i Finch

[another specialist]

Telespiza persecutrix, new species
(Figs. 11G-J, 12B, 13B)
"Psittirostra (Telespyza), medium species" Olson and James, 1982b:39, 45; 1984:771;
James, 1987:225.
Holotype: Nearly complete maxilla lacking the dorsal nasal bar, with the ectethmoids
and part of the frontal attached, BPBM 158882 (Fig. 11G-I). Collected 23
July 1981 by A. Sinoto and P. C. McCoy.
Type locality.' Site 50-Oa-B6-22, Barbers Point, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands.
Distribution: Kauai: Makawehi Dunes. Oahu: Barbers Point and Ulupau Head.
Etymology: Latin, persecutrix, one who follows pertinaciously; a sequel to the
name T. ultima Bryan, 1917, given to the Nihoa Finch in the mistaken expectation
that "the species under consideration is very liable to be the last native passefine
bird t0be discovered in the Hawaiian Group" (Bryan 1917:70-71). Bryan's new
finch was followed by the Nihoa Millerbird, Acrocephalus (familiaris) kingi (Wetmore,
1924), the drepanidines Dysmorodrepanis munroi Perkins, 1919 (collected
in 1913), and Melamprosops phaeosoma Casey and Jacobi, 1974, and now by
many new fossil species. The name is a feminine noun in apposition.
Measurements (mm) ofholotype: Dorsal length, 11.4; ventral length, 6.4; length
from lateral corner of nasofrontal hinge, 11.6; length from jugal articulation, 8.1;
length from antefior nafial opening, 6.7; maximum ventral width, 6.7; width of
nasofrontal hinge, 6.4; length of nafial opening, 2.5; height through lateral nasal
bar, 5.3.
Paratypes: Oahu: three complete maxillae, BPBM 177239, 177250 and 177254;
maxffia with the cofused nasals broken posteriorly, BPBM 177240; maxilla lacking
the left and part of the fight nasal bars, USNM 255230; maxilla lacking the left
nasal bar, USNM 255562 (Fig. 11J); maxilla lacking the left nasal bar, BBM-X
155603; maxilla lacking the tip, BBM-X 153707; nearly intact juvenile maxilla,
BBM-X 155885; mandible lacking part of the fight ramus, BPBM 177255; mandible
lacking part of the left ramus, BPBM 177158; mandible lacking parts of the
fight ramus and left articular end, USNM 255208; two mandibular symphyses,
USNM 255586 and BPBM 177194; mandible lacking part of the left ramus,
USNM 447060 (Figs. 12B, 13B).
Kauai: Two mandibles, each lacking part of the fight ramus, USNM 253888
and BBM-X 152693.

[another specialist]

[another specialist]

Measurements ofparatypes: See Tables 2 and 3 and Fig. 10.
Diagnosis: The bill is smaller than in T. cantans or T. ultima, but larger than
in T. ypsilon, new species. Compared to T. ypsilon, the narial opening is slightly
smaller in proportion to the overall size of the maxilla.
Remarks: Of all the new species of drepanidines, this is the least differentiated
in bill osteology. Nevertheless, the size differences between the three taxa are
statistically significant. MANOVA F statistics comparing four measurements of
the maxilla in T. ultima vs T. persecutrix and T. persecutrix vs T. ypsilon had a
probability level of 0.01 (Wilks' Lambda), despite small sample sizes of four to
five.
The distribution of T. ultima, which is known from fossils to have occurred
on islands to the east and west of T. persecutrix, argues that these two taxa are
not subspecies. It is at least as plausible that T. ultima formerly had a continuous
distribution and was thus sympatric with T. persecutrix.
Recognizing T. persecutrix as a distinct species serves to emphasize that members
of this genus were evidently widely distributed and that a high degree of
sympatry existed among them. It is also consistent with the modern reversal of
opinion regarding T. ultima, which was long treated as a subspecies of T. cantans
but is now considered to be a distinct species because of differences in size,
plumage, and plumage sequence (Banks and Laybourne 1977), as well as by its
fossil sympatry with T. cantans on Molokai (Olson and James 1982b). All of the
named species of Telespiza occur on more than one island, and three of the four
were found together on Molokai (Table 4). As the fossil record improves, we might
expect to find three or more species on each of the main islands.

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[another specialist]

all from

elibrary.unm.edu/sora/om/om046.pdf.