Lyall's wren
| Lyall's wren | |
|---|---|
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| 1895 illustration by John Keulemans | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Suborder: | Acanthisitti |
| Family: | Acanthisittidae |
| Genus: | Traversia |
| Species: | T. lyalli |
| Binomial name | |
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Traversia lyalli (Rothschild, 1894) |
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Lyall's wren or the Stephens Island wren (Traversia lyalli) was a small flightless passerine belonging to the family Acanthisittidae, the New Zealand wrens. It was once found throughout New Zealand, but when it came to the attention of scientists in 1894 its last refuge was Stephens Island in Cook Strait. Often claimed to be a species discovered and driven extinct by a single creature (a lighthouse keeper's cat named Tibbles), the wren in fact fell victim to the island's numerous feral cats. The wren was described almost simultaneously by Walter Rothschild and Walter Buller, and became extinct shortly after.
The bird's scientific name commemorates the assistant lighthouse keeper, David Lyall, who first brought the bird to the attention of science. It was described as a distinct genus, Traversia, in honour of naturalist and curio dealer Henry H. Travers who procured many specimens from Lyall. Traversia is a member of the family Acanthisittidae, or New Zealand wrens – which are not wrens but a similar-looking lineage of passerines, originating in the Oligocene, and the sister group to all other songbirds. DNA analysis has confirmed that T. lyalli, the only member of its genus, is the oldest and most distinct lineage in the Acanthisittidae.
Lyall's wren had olive brown plumage with a yellow stripe through the eye. Its underside was grey in females and brownish-yellow in males, and body feathers were edged with brown.
Most distinctively, Lyall's wren was flightless, with a reduced keel on its breastbone and short rounded wings. It is the best known of the five or so flightless passerines (songbirds) known to science, all of which were inhabitants of islands and are now extinct. The others were three New Zealand wrens (long-billed wren and stout-legged wren) and the long-legged bunting from Tenerife, all of which were only recently discovered as fossils and became extinct in prehistoric times.
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