Mohoua

Mohoua is a small genus of three bird species endemic to New Zealand. The scientific name is taken from mohua – the Māori name for the yellowhead.^[2] 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.^[3] A large molecular genetic study published in 2019 found that the family is sister to the family Neosittidae containing the three sittellas.^[4]

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...

Mohoua
Whitehead (Mohoua albicilla)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Infraorder:	Corvides
Family:	Mohouidae Mathews, 1946
Genus:	Mohoua Lesson, 1837
Type species
Certhia heteroclites[1] = Muscicapa ochrocephala Quoy & Gaimard, 1830

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All three species display some degree of sexual dimorphism in terms of size, with the males being the larger of the two sexes.^[5] 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.^[2] 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.^[2] The three species of this genus are the sole hosts for the long-tailed cuckoo 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.^[5]