Hawaii's Bird Family Tree Rearranged

A group of five endemic Hawaiian songbird species were historically classified as "honeyeaters" due to striking similarities to birds of the same name in Australasia. Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution, however, have discovered that the Hawaiian birds share no close relationship with the other honeyeaters and in fact represent a new family of birds -- unfortunately, all members of the new family are extinct, with the last species of the group disappearing about 20 years ago.

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