page_title: Lānaʻi hookbill
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Lānaʻi hookbill / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: [syn., Chamaesyce celastroides var. celastroides] ʻAkoko, ʻekoko, koko, or kōkōmālei Euphorbiaceae Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands Oʻahu (Cultivated), Nīhoa form http://nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Chamaesyce_celastroides_celastroides
context_page_description: The Lānaʻi hookbill is an extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper. It was endemic to the island of Lānaʻi in Hawaiʻi, and was last seen in the southwestern part of the island. George C. Munro collected the only known specimen of this species in 1913, which is housed in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, and saw the species only twice more, once in 1916 and for a final time in 1918. No other sightings have been reported. They inhabited montane dry forests dominated by ʻakoko and ōpuhe. The Lānaʻi hookbill was monotypic within the genus Dysmorodrepanis and had no known subspecies. Its closest relative is believed to be the ʻōʻū, and some early authors suggested that the Lānaʻi hookbill was merely a deformed ʻōʻū. The Lānaʻi hookbill was a plump, medium-sized bird with greenish olive upperparts and pale whitish yellow underparts. It also had a yellow or white superciliary line and a white chin and throat. The wings also had a distinctive and conspicuous white wing patch. The hookbill's distinguishing characteristic was its heavy, parrotlike bill, which had the mandibles hooking sharply towards each other, leaving a gap between them when the beak was closed.
context_section_description: The Lānaʻi hookbill was endemic to the island of Lānaʻi in Hawaii. All recorded sightings of the species were made from the southwestern end of Lānaʻi's forests, which included the Kaiholena Valley and Waiakeakua. These sightings were between 2,000 and 2,600 feet (610 and 790 m) in elevation. However, the species' habitat once covered thousands of acres on Lānaʻi, and it is possible that the species once had a broader range on the island. The species was non-migratory.
  It is believed that the Lānaʻi hookbill inhabited montane dry forests on Lānaʻi dominated by ʻakoko (Euphorbia species) and ōpuhe (Urera glabra). The unique shape of the hookbill's bill, particularly when compared with the ʻōʻū's bill, and its apparent rarity suggested that the species was an extreme specialist and was therefore restricted to this habitat.
caption: ʻAkoko tree from Nīhoa
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