Primitive koa finch Downloaded on 10 July 2007. Primitive koa finch The primitive koa finch ("Rhodacanthis litotes") is a species of Hawaiian honeycreeper. It was endemic to Hawaii. Of the four species in the genus "Rhodacanthis", it and the scissor-billed koa finch became extinct before the arrival of the first Europeans to Hawaii in 1778. It is known as the ancestor of all koa finches. An adult primitive koa finch was slender and had a total length of about . There was probably a small distinct difference between the sexes. Based on fossils, it is known that the adult primitive koa finch had
Koa people their territory. In 1998 grazier Noel Kennedy applied to the Federal Court to have his property Castle Hill declared to be free of native title. This was challenged by the descendants of the Koa the following year, in a counterclaim for native title to the Castle Hill Pastoral Holding and the Bladensburg National Park in the Shire of Winton. In mid-2002 a Federal Court declared that the Koa claim did not apply to Kennedy's pastoral lands because the Koa could not demonstrate continuity of cultural practices in that area over the last half-century. In 2015, a further claim to title