Some taxonomic authorities consider it a distinct species (as M. woahensis),[1] but the International Ornithological Congress presently classifies it as a subspecies of M.

Its song was reported to be similar to the Molokai olomaʻo, which may be its closest relative.

Mosquitoes, introduced about thirty years earlier, caused the birds to evacuate what little good habitat was left in the low altitude areas of Oahu - and if the birds did not leave, they would have contracted malaria and perished.

Birds that retreated to upper elevations would have been harassed by introduced rats, which attack the berries and steal chicks from nests.

This species' extinction was not well recorded, as no one mentions a specific year when the ʻāmaui was last identified.