The bright golden-yellow feathers of the Hawaiʻi mamo were prized for the featherwork worn by the aliʻi (Hawaiian royalty).
The famous yellow cloak of Kamehameha I is estimated to have taken the reigns of eight monarchs and the golden feathers of 80,000 Hawaiʻi mamos before it was completed.
The bill was more sharply decurved than the former species and had a small yellowy spot near the base (on the operculum).
[4] The black mamo was endemic to Molokaʻi and was last observed in 1907 by the collector Alanson Bryan, who had shot three birds.
Tim Flannery quoted him as having written, "To my joy I found the mangled remains hanging in the tree in a thick bunch of leaves, six feet or more beyond where it had been sitting.