Stout-legged finch

Stout-legged finch
Temporal range: Early Holocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Ciridops
Species:
C. tenax
Binomial name
Ciridops tenax
(Olson & James, 1991)

The stout-legged finch (Ciridops tenax) is an extinct species of finch, in the 'Hawaiian honeycreeper' group. Subfossil remains have been found only on the island of Kauai and indicate that it survived up until the late Quaternary period. It probably died out when the first humans arrived in the Hawaiian Islands. The stout-legged finch would have been very vulnerable to the pests and agriculture that the humans brought with them. It was a congener of the 'ula-'ai-hawane, and therefore probably had similar colors of red, white and black.[1]

  1. ^ 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): 1–92. doi:10.2307/40166713. JSTOR 40166713.