Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species formerly occurred on New Zealand, but it is now Extinct, probably due to predation by invasive species. It was last certainly recorded in the wild in 1968.
Population justification
Species is extinct.
Xenicus longipes was endemic to the three main islands of New Zealand, with variabilis of Stewart Island last recorded in 1965 (though six individuals were translocated from Big South Cape island to Kaimohu island, but there were no young and the last individual died in 1972), stokesi of the North Island in 1955, and the nominate race of the South Island in 1968 (Collar et al. 1994, Hume 2017).
On the mainland, it was a species of dense, montane forest, while on offshore islands it was found in coastal forest and scrub (Robertson 1985).
Its decline was presumably caused by introduced predators (Robertson 1985), to which it was particularly vulnerable, being a ground-nester (Greenway 1967).
Text account compilers
Vine, J.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Bushwren Xenicus longipes. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/bushwren-xenicus-longipes on 27/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 27/11/2024.