Botany, GIS and archives combine to assess the provenance of historical Kakapo study-skins stuffed with New Zealand bryophytes

Museum specimens are a portal to the past, offering unique opportunities for improving knowledge of endangered species and the practices of past scientists. The Macleay Museum holds twelve Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) skins received in 1877 from Sir James Hector of the New Zealand Colonial Museum. Unfortunately beyond this, the provenance of the Macleay Kakapo is unknown, limiting their value. Somewhat unusually, the 140 year-old skins are stuffed with bryophytes. Here we attempt to resolve where the Macleay Kakapo were collected by synthesising distributional data for the mosses and liverworts with which the Kakapo are stuffed with archival evidence. We developed the hypothesis that Dr Hector himself may have collected the birds in Fiordland. Our study demonstrates that through careful examination, ornithologists can learn more about specimen history, and potentially solve the common unknown provenance problem of 19th Century museum bird specimens.