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The osteology of the New Zealand genera
Mohoua and
Finschia shows that they are definitely not referable to the Pachycephalinae or any other group within the corvine assemblage. This is in contrast to Sibley and Ahlquist’s original interpretation of their DNA-DNA hybridization studies and supports a recent reanalysis of that data by critics, who concluded that these genera belong among the “Passerida”. Within that group, the relationships of
Finschia and
Mohoua remain uncertain. No osteological basis could be found for continuing to separate the genus
Finschia from
Mohoua. The three species in the expanded genus
Mohoua show increasing specialization for use of the hindlimb in foraging and in order of most primitive to most derived should be listed as
M. novaeseelandiae,
M. albicilla, and
M. ochrocephala. The last two species are very distinct from one another osteologically and are not to be regarded as subspecies of a single species.