Olson • THE EXTINCT HAWAIIAN GENUS CIRIDOPS 
655 
Chlorodrepanis. Henshaw (1902: 57) placed this 
"finch-like bird" at the end of the red-and-black 
species. Amadou (1950: 174) considered the bill ol 
Ciridops to be “finch-like” but that it was 
otherwise “nearest Palmeria but without a crest 
and with lanceolate feathers on the crown throat, 
and cheeks only." Amadou (1950: 231) believed 
the drepanidines had evolved from nectar-feeding 
coeribid-like birds and. that within the red-and- 
black group. Ciridops. with its supposedly "most 
tanager-like" bill, was considered to be the most 
derived member. Bock (1970. 1979) and Richards 
and Bock (1973) acknowledged the drepanidines to 
have been derived from the Carduelinae. and 
considered Ciridops to be basal to the entire 
radiation, having given rise both to the ‘red and 
black' group and to Loxops and the remainder of 
the radiation, including all the laxa that are much 
more linch-like than Ciridops. Bock <1979: 65) 
later placed Ciridops at the base of the red-and- 
black group “which may be representative of the 
founding stock of the Hawaiian honeycreepcrs.” 
Raikow (1977: 115) argued that Ciridops must 
have branched off among the slender-billed non¬ 
finch-like forms in the drepanidine radiation but 
that the “finch-like or tanager-like bill.,, is 
difficult to explain in conjunction with the fully 
tubular tongue, especially since little is known ol' 
its feeding habits" so that “perhaps the hill 
shape... is only secondarily finch-like." The bill 
shape of the then newly discovered Poo-uli 
{MeUnnprosops phaeosomu) was considered to be 
“closest to that of the extinct 'ula-'ai-hawane 
(Ciridops anna)" (Casey and Jacobi 1974: 220). 
An osteological analysis consistently grouped 
Ciridops with ihe red-and-black elude ( Drepanis. 
Vestiaria. Himatione, and Palme ria). usually in a 
basal position but in a strict consensus tree in the 
most derived position (James 2004). There arc no 
reliable generic-level characters to separate the 
highly curved-billed genera Drepanis and Vestiaria 
(Pratt 1979a. 2005), and only size and plumage 
characters appear to separate Palme ria from 
Himatione. The argument for merging all four of 
these genera in Drepanis (Fleischer in Pratt 2005: 
77) has received strong recent support from 
discovery of a natural hybrid between Vestiaria 
coccinea and Himatione sanguinea (Knowlton 
et al. in press). Drepanis sensu Into and Ciridops 
would thus represent a simple dichotomy so that 
which one would be ’basal' becomes moot. The 
hindlimb morphology of Ciridops is certainly 
derived relative to that of Drepanis (s.l.) and if its 
short bill evolved from a longer-billed ancestor, 
then Ciridops would certainly appear to be the 
more specialized genus compared with Drepanis. 
Genus Ciridops Newton 1892: 469. 
Type Species.—Fringilla anna Dole (1878), by 
monotypy; gender, common, probably intended as 
feminine by analogy with Loxops, although all 
genera ending in -ops are now to be treated as 
masculine by decree of International Commission 
on Zoological Nomenclature (Pratt 1979b). 
Authorship of Ihe Generic Name. —Newton 
(1892: 469) introduced a note of ambiguity 
concerning the authorship of Ciridops: "... there 
is one very puzzling species, of which only a few 
specimens seem to have been preserved, that needs 
particular attention. This was described by Judge 
Dole under the name of * Fringilla anna: but. of 
course, is no true Fringilla. Mr. Wilson brought 
home but a single specimen.... and. I believe will 
establish for it a new genus. Ciridops." Despite 
this, the name was clearly established at that 
moment by Newton, who. I believe (Olson 2003), 
was also the chief author of most of what was 
written in Wilson and Evans (1890-1899), where 
Ihe reference was died (1893: 23) as '"Ciridops 
-, Wilson', Nature, xlv. page 469 (17 Mar 
1892)". Rothschild (1900, 1907b), W. A. Bryan 
(1901), Perkins (1903), and E. H. Bryan (1958), for 
example, attributed the genus to Wilson, but 
Richmond (1902: 673 ) more precisely lists the 
author as “‘Wilson’ Newton." Later authors (e.g., 
Bryan and Greenway 1944. Amadou 1950, Green¬ 
way 1968, AOU 1998) correctly give sole author¬ 
ship of the generic name Ciridops to Newton. 
Etymology.*- Pratt (2005: 273) evidently did 
not consult the original description of the genus 
and appears to have contrived an etymology, 
stating that Ciridops is "most often translated as 
‘shining face',” or that “the name probably was 
intended to mean ‘looking like Scylla’s ciris’." 
Ciridops had not previously, to my knowledge, 
been translated as ’shining face* except by Pratt 
(2002a), the Greek word for ‘shining’ being 
lampros. Newton (1892: 469), however, explicitly 
declared that Ciridops was “so named because its 
bright coloration recalls the well-known Emberiza 
ciris ol Linnaeus, the Painted Bunting of authors, 
or ‘Nonpareil' of bird dealers." 
Included Species.—Ciridops anna. Ciridops 
tenax James and Olson 1991. Ciridops sp. (Oahu) 
James and Olson 1991. 
