15 4 DISTRIBUTION SUMMARY Check List 15 (4): 701–727 https://doi.org/10.15560/15.4.701 Historical distribution data of New Zealand endemic families Callaeidae and Notiomystidae (Aves, Passeriformes) Rodrigo Brincalepe Salvador, Barbara Mizumo Tomotani, Colin Mackie Miskelly, Susan Mary Waugh Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 55 Cable Street, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand. Corresponding author: Rodrigo B. Salvador,
[email protected] Abstract Callaeidae (wattlebirds) and Notiomystidae (stitchbirds) are New Zealand-endemic sister-taxa; while widespread before human settlement, they subsequently became critically endangered or extinct. Aside from presently managed populations, information about them is scarce and actual specimens even scarcer. Herein, we provide a snapshot of these families’ historical distribution during the critical periods of European settlement and expansion in New Zealand (19th and early-20th centuries), exploring new data and insights resulting from this approach. We include an extensive catalogue of worldwide museum specimens to facilitate future research. We report the last known record/specimen of huia Heteralocha acutirostris (Gould, 1837) and late 19th century specimens of North Island saddleback Philesturnus rufusater (Lesson, 1828) from Cuvier Island that confirm its occurrence there. We failed to find specimens of North Island saddleback and stitchbird Notiomystis cincta (du Bus de Gisignies, 1839) (with one and two exceptions, respec- tively) from named locations on the mainland. Keywords Extinct species, Heteralocha acutirostris, huia, museum specimens, natural history collections, stitchbird, wattlebirds. Academic editor: Sahas Barve | Received 27 April 2019 | Accepted 16 August 2019 | Published 30 August 2019 Citation: Salvador RB, Tomotani BM, Miskelly CM, Waugh SM (2019) Historical distribution data of New Zealand endemic families Callaeidae and Notiomystidae (Aves, Passeriformes).