Overview
The long-legged warbler (Trichocichla rufa) was described in 1890 based on three specimens collected on Viti Levu, Fiji's main island. The holotype is held in the Museum of Natural History, Berlin, and the two paratypes are held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. A fourth specimen, collected in or near Suva, Viti Levu, on 14 November 1894, is also held in the American Museum of Natural History. The birds then vanished for over a century, apart from occasional unconfirmed sightings from the forested interior of Viti Levu, until their rediscovery in 2003. However, in June 1974 a long-legged warbler was caught in a mist-net set to catch birds in dense rainforest near Nambauloa Creek in the Delanacau Mountains on the island of Vanua Levu, and a second bird was seen about 2 km from the site. The captured bird (which was collected) was quite different in appearance to the Viti Levu birds, having a much more prominent white stripe above the eye, and a larger area of white on the underparts. Frederick Kinsky described it as a new subspecies Trichocichla rufa cluniei, and the holotype is retained in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Apart from possible sightings in 1986 and 2001, there have been no subsequent reports of the Vanua Levu subspecies, and it may be extinct. However, long-legged warblers are secretive and live in dense undergrowth under tall rainforest. As few naturalists have explored forested areas of Vanua Levu, the Vanua Levu long-legged warbler may be waiting to be rediscovered.
Long-legged warblers (also known as long-legged thicketbirds) are placed in the Fiji-endemic monotypic* genus Trichocichla, in the family Megaluridae (grass-warblers, grassbirds and thicketbirds). Their nearest relatives are thought to be the Megalurulus thicketbirds of the Bismark Archipelago, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.
Long-legged warblers on Viti Levu are now known from at least ten sites widely scattered through the island's densely forested interior. They are ranked as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as they occur at low density and the total population may only be a few hundred birds. The first nest, which contained two eggs and produced two chicks, was discovered in 2009.
*Monotypic genus - a genus containing only one species.
IUCN Redlist threat ranking for long-legged warbler http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/148545/0