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Located about 2300 miles (3680 km) from the nearest continental shore, the Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated group of islands on the planet. The plant and animal life of the Hawaiian archipelago is the result of early, very infrequent colonizations of arriving species and the slow evolution of those species—in isolation from the rest of the world's flora and fauna—over a period of at least 5 million years. As a consequence, Hawai'i is home to a large number of endemic species. The radiation of species described by Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Islands which was critical to the formulation of his theory of evolution is far exceeded in the more isolated Hawaiian Islands.
The cardueline finches are a subfamily, Carduelinae, one of three subfamilies of the finch family Fringillidae, the others being the Fringillinae and the Euphoniinae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are now included in this subfamily. Except for the Hawaiian honeycreepers which underwent adaptive radiation in Hawaii and have evolved a broad range of diets, cardueline finches are specialised seed eaters, and unlike most passerine birds, they feed their young mostly on seeds, which are regurgitated. Besides this, they differ from the other finches in some minor details of their skull. They are adept at opening seeds and clinging to stems, unlike other granivorous birds, such as sparrows and buntings, which feed mostly on fallen seeds. Some members of this subfamily are further specialised to feed on a particular type of seed, such as cones in the case of crossbills. Carduelines forage in flocks throughout the year, rather than keeping territories, and males defend their females rather than a territory or nest.
Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small, passerine birds endemic to Hawaiʻi. They are closely related to the rosefinches in the genus Carpodacus, but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any other finch. Their great morphological diversity is the result of adaptive radiation in an insular environment. Many have been driven to extinction since the first humans arrived in Hawaii, with extinctions increasing over the last 2 centuries following European discovery of the islands, with habitat destruction and especially invasive species being the main causes.
Drepanidini is a tribe of cardueline finches containing the Hawaiian honeycreepers. It was formerly considered one of three Hawaiian honeycreeper tribes, and restricted to the genera Ciridops, Drepanis, Himatione, Melamprosops, and Palmeria, most of which are nectarivores with brightly-colored or boldly-patterned plumage and songs containing nasal squeaks and whistles. However, as these three tribes were each para- or polyphyletic, and as Hawaiian honeycreepers are no longer treated as their own subfamily or family, Drepanidini is now typically used for all Hawaiian honeycreepers.
References
- 1 2 "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
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