Mohoua

---

title: "Mohoua" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mohoua", "endemic-birds-of-new-zealand", "passeri", "bird-genera", "taxa-named-by-rené-lesson"] description: "Genus of birds" topic_path: "geography/new-zealand" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohoua" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of birds ::

| image = Whitehead-Roger-South.jpg | image_caption = Whitehead (Mohoua albicilla) | display_parents = 2 | parent_authority = Mathews, 1946 | taxon = Mohoua | authority = Lesson, 1837 | type_species = Certhia heteroclites = Muscicapa ochrocephala | type_species_authority = Quoy & Gaimard, 1830

Mohoua is a genus of three bird species endemic to New Zealand. The scientific name is taken from mohua – the Māori name for the yellowhead. Their taxonomic placement has presented problems: They have typically been placed in the whistler family, Pachycephalidae, but in 2013 it was established that they are best placed in their own family, Mohouidae. A large molecular genetic study published in 2019 found that the family is sister to the family Neosittidae, containing the three sittellas.

All three species display some degree of sexual dimorphism in terms of size, with the males being the larger of the two sexes. Mohoua are gregarious (more so outside the breeding season) and usually forage in groups. They also forage in mixed species flocks at times, frequently forming the nucleus of such flocks. Social organization and behaviour is well documented for all three Mohoua species; cooperative breeding has been observed in all three species and is common in the whitehead and yellowhead. The three species are the sole hosts for the long-tailed cuckoo (Urodynamis taitensis), which acts as a brood parasite upon them, pushing their eggs out of the nest and laying a single one of its own in their place so that they take no part in incubation of their eggs or in raising their young.

Taxonomy

The genus Mohoua was introduced in 1837 by the French naturalist René Lesson to accommodate a single species, the yellowhead, which is therefore the type species of the genus.

Species

|name=Whitehead |binomial=Mohoua albicilla |image=File:Whitehead Mohoua albicilla.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Lesson|authority-year=1830 |authority-not-original=yes |range= North Island |range-image= |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies=

|name=Pipipi or New Zealand brown creeper |binomial=Mohoua novaeseelandiae |image=File:Mohoua novaeseelandiae 182412624 (cropped).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Gmelin|authority-year=1789 |authority-not-original=yes |range= South Island |range-image= |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies=

|name=Yellowhead |binomial=Mohoua ochrocephala |image=File:Yellowhead - Stewart Island, New Zealand.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Gmelin|authority-year=1789 |authority-not-original=yes |range= South Island |range-image= |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies=

References

• Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions.

References

1. . ["Mohouidae"](https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=241). *The Trust for Avian Systematics*.
2. ''"[[Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds]]"; Volume 7'', edited by Peter Higgins, OUP, 2000
3. (2013). "Phylogenetic relationships of the genus ''Mohoua'', endemic hosts of New Zealand's obligate brood parasitic Long-tailed Cuckoo (''Eudynamys taitensis'')". Journal of Ornithology.
4. (2019). "Earth history and the passerine superradiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
5. Barrie Heather and Hugh Robertson, ''The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand'' (revised edition), Viking, 2005
6. Lesson, René. (1837). "Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particulière des Mammifères et des Oiseaux Décoverts Depuis la Mort de Buffon". Pourrat Frères.
7. (1986). "Check-List of Birds of the World". Museum of Comparative Zoology.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::