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Posted: Monday, December 22nd, 2008 4:58 AM HST

Extinct Hawaiian birds origin revised

By Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) _ DNA tests show that the Hawaiian birds known as honeyeaters are not related to similar birds in Australia. A report in Current Biology says the birds with long bills and tongues look like those in Australia because they use the same method to gather food, not because they're part of the same genetic family. The article's author, Robert Fleischer of the Smithsonian Institution, says the honeyeaters, including several species of 'o'o birds, are related to birds called waxwings, silky flycatchers and palm-chats. The honeyeaters were among the first occupants of the Hawaiian Islands. After as long as 17 million years in the islands, the honeyeaters died out in 1985. (Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved)