Palila
| Palila | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
| Tribe: | Psittirostrini |
| Genus: | Loxioides |
| Species: | L. bailleui |
| Binomial name | |
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Loxioides bailleui Oustalet, 1877 |
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| Synonyms | |
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The palila (Loxioides bailleui) is a critically endangered finch-billed species of Hawaiian honeycreeper. It has a golden-yellow head and breast, with a light belly, gray back, and greenish wings and tail. The bird has a close ecological relationship with the māmane tree (Sophora chrysophylla), and became endangered due to destruction of the trees and accompanying dry forests. The first specimen of the palila was collected in 1876 at the Greenwell Ranch on the Big Island by Pierre Étienne Théodore Ballieu (1828–1885), who was French consul in Hawai‘i from 1869 to 1878. The type specimen (No. 1876-645) is housed at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris.
The Hawaiian honeycreepers (Drepanididae) are sometimes included in the true finch family (Fringillidae). Oustalet scientifically described the palila in 1877. Named Loxioides bailleui by him, it was for some times united with several other "parrot-billed" Hawaiian honeycreeper species in Psittirostra. In the process of describing the bird in print, Oustalet (or the printer) inadvertently transposed Ballieu's name to "bailleui," as represented in the specific name. Currently, the palila has again been moved to genus Loxioides, which was long considered monotypic. The native name ʻōʻū poʻopapale ("capped ʻōʻū") probably refers to this species too. Despite its bill and habits being somewhat similar to the ʻōʻū, its color pattern betrays a very close relationship with the genus Telespiza.
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Wikipedia