- Martinique Macaw
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Martinique Macaw 
Painting by John Gerrard Keulemans Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Psittaciformes Family: Psittacidae Subfamily: Psittacinae Tribe: Arini Genus: Ara Species: A. martinica Binomial name Ara martinica
(Rothschild, 1905)Synonyms Ara martinicus The Martinique Macaw, Ara martinica, is an hypothetical extinct species of parrot that may have been native to Martinique, a French island in the eastern Caribbean Sea.[1]
A Roelandt Savery painting from 1628 possibly depicting a specimen in the far left[2]
Unidentified parrot supposedly from Jamaica, which may be Ara martinica, copperplate engraving by Eleazar Albin published in the mid 1700sThe species was first scientifically described and named by Walter Rothschild in 1905 (and later in his 1907 book, Extinct Birds), in the absence of a specimen and based on a brief 17th-century report from the island by Labat:
Those of Dominica have some red feathers on the wings, under the throat, and in the tail ; all the rest is green (Amazona bouqueti, w.r.). Those of Martinique have the same plumage as the last mentioned, but the top of the head is slate colour with a small amount of red.[3]
Rothschild initially called these parrots Anodorhynchus martinicus and later Ara martinicus. There are no remains of the parrots that lived on the island, and so the existence of a unique island species may never be proven. They could have been a feral population of parrots originating from Blue-and-yellow Macaws that were taken to the island as pets by humans.[4]
References
- ^ "Species Info: Ara martinica". The Extinction Website (2008). http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/martiniquemacaw.htm. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/martiniquemacaw.htm
- ^ http://www.archive.org/details/extinctbirdsatte00roth
- ^ Fuller, Errol (1987). Extinct Birds. Penguin Books (England). pp. 148–149. ISBN 0670817972.
External links
Macaws Genus Species (extinctions: † indicates a species confirmed to be extinct, ₴ indicates evidence only from sub-fossils)Anodorhynchus Cyanopsitta Ara Blue-and-yellow Macaw (or Blue-and-gold Macaw) • Blue-throated Macaw • Military Macaw • Great Green Macaw (or Buffon's Macaw) • Scarlet Macaw • Red-and-green Macaw (or Green-winged Macaw) • Red-fronted Macaw • Chestnut-fronted Macaw (or Severe Macaw) • Cuban Red Macaw † • Saint Croix Macaw † ₴Orthopsittaca Primolius Diopsittaca Hypothetical extinct macaws
(unconfirmed genus)Neotropical parrots (tribe: Arini) • List of macaws • Mini-macaws 
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