Scissor-billed koa finch Scissor-billed koa finch The scissor-billed koa finch, ("Rhodacanthis forfex") or scissor finch is an extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper. Of the four species in the genus "Rhodacanthis", the scissor-billed koa finch and the primitive koa finch became extinct before the arrival of the first Europeans to Hawaii in 1778. It was endemic to the islands of Maui and Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. The scissor-billed koa finch was a granivore, that, like the other members of its genus, had a bill adapted to eat the hard seeds and pods of legumes. Pollen and fossil evidence indicates that "Ka palupalu o
Greater koa finch regeneration of koa forests, while introduced black rats ("Rattus rattus") preyed on young birds. Avian pox ("Poxvirus avium") and malaria ("Plasmodium relictum"), spread by mosquitoes, may have also been a factor. However, even before these issues became important, the koa finches were probably already living in marginal habitat due to the loss of lowland koa forests, as evidenced by the extinction of the other koa finch species (which lived on lower-elevation islands) prior to European contact. Greater koa finch The greater koa finch ("Rhodacanthis palmeri") was a species of finch in the Fringillidae family. It was found only in the