Vangulifer
| Vangulifer Temporal range: Holocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
| Genus: | †Vangulifer Olson & James, 1991 |
| Species | |
| |
Vangulifer is an extinct genus containing two species of Hawaiian honeycreeper known as 'shovel-billed finches'. It is known from sub-fossil remains found on Maui. They may have been insectivores, using their flat, rounded bills to catch flying insects in the air.[1]
Species
[edit]Taxonomy
[edit]Vangulifer was first described in 1991 by Olson & James from sub-fossil remains discovered in 1988 in lava tubes on the southern slopes of Haleakala volcano.[1] Because of a lack of DNA evidence, the placement of Vangulifer is uncertain, though some phylogenetic analyses have shown that it may be most closely related to Paroreomyza and Oreomystis.[2]
References
[edit]- 1 2 James, Helen F.; Olson, Storrs L. (1991). "Descriptions of Thirty-Two New Species of Birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part II. Passeriformes". Ornithological Monographs. 46 (46): 1–88. doi:10.2307/40166713. JSTOR 40166713.
- ↑ James, Helen F. (2004). "The osteology and phylogeny of the Hawaiian finch radiation (Fringillidae: Drepanidini), including extinct taxa". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 141 (2): 240–241. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00117.x. ISSN 0024-4082.