Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species was found in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, but it is now Extinct likely as a result of habitat destruction, predation and disease. It was last recorded in 1906.
Population justification
None remain.
Trend justification
The last records of this species were in 1906 from Little Mangere (Fleming 1939). It could not be found in 1924 and an expedition in 1938 hoping to rediscover the species found no trace of it (Tennyson and Martinson 2006, Hume 2017).
Anthornis melanocephala was endemic to Chatham, Pitt, Mangere and Little Mangere Islands, New Zealand (Greenway 1967).
It inhabited the islands' dense forest.
The reasons for its decline are obscure, but were probably a combination of habitat destruction, predation by introduced rats and cats (Greenway 1967), and over-collection for the museum trade (Oliver 1955). Introduced disease is also likely to have caused rapid declines (Hume 2017).
Text account compilers
Vine, J.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Chatham Islands Bellbird Anthornis melanocephala. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/chatham-islands-bellbird-anthornis-melanocephala on 02/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 02/01/2025.