Abstract

Olson, Storrs L., and Helen F. James. Prodromus the Fossil Avifauna the Hawaiian Islands. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, number 365, 59 pages, 12 figures, 1982.—In the past decade, fossil deposits from five the main Hawaiian Islands have yielded thousands bones extinct and living species birds. Through these specimens, the number endemic species land birds in the avifauna the main islands has been more than doubled. There are 40 extinct species known only from bones, including 1 petrel (Procellariidae), 2 ibises (Plataleidae), 7 geese (Anatidae), 1 small hawk and 1 eagle (Accipitridae), 7 rails (Rallidae), 3 species a new genus owl (Strigidae), 2 large crows (Corvidae), 1 honeyeater (Meliphagidae), and at least 15 species Hawaiian finches (Fringillidae, Drepanidini). The present report discusses the fossil deposits and the physical and biological features the islands in order to provide background information for our future systematic publications on the fossil and modern avifauna the Hawaiian Islands. An informal listing the species found as fossils permits preliminary analyses extinction and biogeography. The major fossil localities are on the islands Kauai, Oahu, and Molokai, from each which there are diverse collections small passerines, as well as many specimens nonpasserine land birds, shorebirds, and seabirds. Fossils a few additional extinct species have been found incidentally on Maui and Hawaii. Bones extinct birds have been found in situations as diverse as sand dunes, sinkholes, and a flooded cavern in a raised coral reef, lava tubes, loess deposits, an ash deposit under a lava flow, and in archeological sites. Although some the fossil deposits may be from the late Pleistocene epoch, most the more important ones are probably Holocene, ranging from about 6700 years B.P. to much younger. Evidence is presented to show that the extinct species birds survived into the period of Polynesian colonization. We believe that the extinction half or more the land birds the Hawaiian Islands prior to European discovery resulted mainly from the destruction lowland forest by Polynesians, augmented by predation by man and introduced mammals. This has altered the distribution species within the archipelago as well as the species composition individual islands in such a drastic manner as to suggest that the data used in traditional and modern ecological studies island biogeography may be too incomplete to permit generalizations about any islands that were settled by prehistoric man. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. SERIES COVER DESIGN: The coral Montastrea cavemosa (Linnaeus). Library Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Olson, Storrs L. Prodromus the fossil avifauna the Hawaiian Islands. (Smithsonian contributions to zoology ; no. 365) Bibliography: p. Supt. Docs, no.: SI 1.27:365 1. Birds, Fossil. 2. Birds, Extinct. 3. Paleontology—Hawaii. I. James, Helen F. II. Title. III. Scries QL1.S54 no. 365 [QE871] 591s 82-600157 [568'.09969] AACR2