Ou

Open encyclopedia reference

The ʻōʻū (pronounced [ˈʔoː.ʔuː]) (Psittirostra psittacea) is an extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper that was endemic to the Hawaiian islands. It had a dark green back and olive green underparts; males had a yellow head while females had a green head. Its unusual beak seems to have been adapted to feeding on the fruits of Freycinetia arborea. It had a strong flight which it used to fly considerable distances in search of this vine, but it also ate other fruits, buds, flowers and insects.

Although formerly widespread and present throughout the island group, numbers declined dramatically during the twentieth century. The bird had been listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being Critically Endangered since 1994, but in 2024 it was assessed as extinct. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had separately declared the bird extinct in a 2022 study review. The last recorded sighting was in 1989.

Wikipedia contributors, ʻŌʻū; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T01:19:51.289660+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Psittirostra psittacea (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

Name authority

(J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

Common name

Ou

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Fringillidae

Genus

Psittirostra

Extinction status

Recorded extinct

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderPasseriformes
10. familyFringillidae Leach, 1820
11. genusPsittirostra Temminck, 1820
12. speciesPsittirostra psittacea (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 174 records assigned to Fringillidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=554393 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4PKDC. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.