NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Little Spotted Kiwi
Apteryx owenii Gould, 1847
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii), also known as little grey kiwi or kiwi pukupuku, is a small flightless bird in the kiwi family, Apterygidae. It is the smallest of the five kiwi species, at about 0.9 to 1.9 kg (2–4+1⁄4 lb), about the size of a bantam. It is endemic to New Zealand, and in pre-European times occurred in both main islands, but is now mainly restricted to a number of small offshore islands and mainland reserves protected by pest-exclusion fences.
The little spotted kiwi was on the brink of extinction when a conservation effort took place 100 years ago. Five individuals were translocated from the South Island to Kapiti Island. Today, the Kapiti Island population has grown, with around 1200 birds. They were considered extinct on the mainland, with no sightings since 1978, until their rediscovery in the wild in 2025.
Wikipedia contributors, Little spotted kiwi; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:17:35.393555+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Apteryx owenii Gould, 1847
- Name authority
- Gould, 1847
- Common name
- Little Spotted Kiwi
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Apterygiformes
- Family
- Apterygidae
- Genus
- Apteryx
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderApterygiformes
- familyApterygidae
- genusApteryx Shaw, 1813
- speciesApteryx owenii Gould, 1847
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Apteryx. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Brown KiwiApteryx australis Shaw, 1813 | ApterygidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Great Spotted KiwiApteryx haastii Potts, 1872 | ApterygidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Okarito Brown KiwiApteryx rowi Tennyson, Palma, Robertson, Worthy & B. J. Gill, 2003 | ApterygidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Apteryx oweni Gould, 1847 Gould, 1847 | synonym |
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.
- Gould, & John. (1847). On a new species of Apteryx. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Vol. 15, No. 175. 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:FYYS. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.