Lord Howe Fantail
Encyclopedia
The Lord Howe Fantail also known as the Lord Howe Island Fantail or Fawn-breasted Fantail, was a small bird in the fantail
family, Rhipiduridae. It is an extinct
subspecies
of the New Zealand Fantail
(Rhipidura fuliginosa). It was endemic to Lord Howe Island
in the Tasman Sea
, part of New South Wales
, Australia
.
.
s and lined with fine grass, situated on a horizontal branch. The clutch was usually three, sometimes two, eggs.
s were accidentally introduced to the island with the grounding of the ship SS Makambo
there in June 1918. It was reported in 1924 that the birds were “practically wiped out” and there are no records from subsequent years. The fantail was only one of a suite of Lord Howe’s endemic birds and other fauna exterminated by rat predation.
Fantail
Fantails are small insectivorous birds of southern Asia and Australasia belonging to the genus Rhipidura in the family Rhipiduridae...
family, Rhipiduridae. It is an extinct
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of the New Zealand Fantail
New Zealand Fantail
The New Zealand Fantail is a small insectivorous bird. A common fantail found in the South Island of New Zealand, also in the North Island as subspecies Rhipidura fuliginosa placabilis, the Chatham Islands as Rhipidura fuliginosa penita and formerly the Lord Howe Island as Rhipidura fuliginosa...
(Rhipidura fuliginosa). It was endemic to Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, and about from Norfolk Island. The island is about 11 km long and between 2.8 km and 0.6 km wide with an area of...
in the Tasman Sea
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
, part of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Description
The Lord Howe Fantail has sometimes been treated as a full species. It differed from the other subspecies by its entire underparts being light cinnamon-brown, with a paler throat, lacking the white throat with the dark bar delimiting it from the breast.Distribution and habitat
The Lord Howe Fantail was restricted to Lord Howe Island, where it inhabited the native subtropical rainforestRainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
.
Behaviour
The birds were very tame, commonly seen around buildings which they often entered in search of insects.Breeding
The fantail built a cup-shaped nest, with a rudimentary tail, of decayed wood fibre and grass, bound with cobwebSpider web
A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
s and lined with fine grass, situated on a horizontal branch. The clutch was usually three, sometimes two, eggs.
Extinction
The Lord Howe Fantail was reported as common in 1909 but disappeared not long after Black RatBlack Rat
The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...
s were accidentally introduced to the island with the grounding of the ship SS Makambo
SS Makambo
The SS Makambo was a steamship first owned by Burns Philp & Co. Ltd. She was built in Port Glasgow and named after an island in the Solomon Islands. She carried both passengers and cargo and was principally used on routes between eastern Australia and islands in Melanesia and the Tasman Sea...
there in June 1918. It was reported in 1924 that the birds were “practically wiped out” and there are no records from subsequent years. The fantail was only one of a suite of Lord Howe’s endemic birds and other fauna exterminated by rat predation.