Rodrigues Parrot

Rodrigues Parrot
Artist's reconstruction (upper bird); the head was actually nearly twice the size shown here.
Conservation status
Extinct (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Psittaciformes
Family:	Psittacidae
Subfamily:	Psittacinae
Genus:	Necropsittacus Milne-Edwards, 1873
Species:	N. rodericanus
Binomial name
Necropsittacus rodericanus (Milne-Edwards, 1867)
Synonyms
Psittacus rodericanus Milne-Edwards, 1867

The Rodrigues Parrot (Necropsittacus rodericanus) is an extinct species of parrot which once lived on the Mascarene island of Rodrigues. It is known from subfossil bones and the 1708 description of Leguat as well as the 1726 report of Julien Tafforet. The birds were described as generally of green coloration, with a large head and beak and a long tail, and being in size markedly larger than a pigeon, or considerably so than the local parakeet. The fossils, which include a partial skull, prove that the bird had a bill adapted to cracking the hardest seeds, convergent with South American Ara macaws. Tafforet speaks of their habits in some detail: At his time (when the island was long overrun with rats), the birds stayed mostly on the Islet au Mât (Gobrani Island) south of mainland Rodriguez. They were observed feeding on the small, black and hard seeds or fruit of a tree with leaves having a strong citrus smell. Fresh water was obtained on the mainland.

From Réunion, Dubois in 1674 described a parrot that was green, with the head, tail and the upper wings fiery red. This bird was described by Rothschild as Necropsittacus borbonicus, and apparently again, this time erroneously assuming there were similar reports from Mauritius, as N. francicus. However, Dubois makes it clear that the parrots he talks about were smaller than pigeons, and thus it is unlikely that these birds were closely allied with the Rodrigues Parrot. It has been hypothesized that the reports refer to an escaped pet or feral birds, but no explanation brought forth this far seems very convincing. All that can be said is that the only parrot unequivocally known from Réunion this far is the Mascarene Parrot, with the tentative evidence for the erstwhile existence of the Réunion Parakeet seeming plausible.

The scientific name, Necropsittacus rodericanus, translates to "dead parrot of Rodrigues".^[1]

Réunion Red-and-green Parakeet

Restoration of the "Réunion Red-and-green Parakeet" by Henrik Grönvold

The Réunion Parrot ("Necropsittacus" borbonicus) is a hypothetical extinct species of parrot based on descriptions of birds from the Mascarene island of Réunion. Its existence has been inferred from the travel report of Dubois in 1674 who described a parrot the size of the Echo Parakeet which was predominantly green, with the head, tail and the upper wings fiery red. No remains have been found of this supposed species, and its existence seems doubtful.

The bird was scientifically described by Rothschild as Necropsittacus borbonicus, thinking it was a congener of the Rodrigues Parrot. Additionally, Rothschild named a third "species" of the genus Necropsittacus, colored like Dubois' birds but with entirely green wings and supposedly from Mauritius, as N. francicus. This seems to have been merely based on the confused or even unconsciously fraudulent (Rothschild was prone to describing extinct "species" from the slightest hint of their possible existence) reading of Dubois' report; there is no indication that such birds ever occurred on Mauritius. As Dubois unequivocally stated that the red-and-green birds were smaller than pigeons, and thus it is unlikely that these birds were closely allied with the much larger Rodrigues Parrot. It has been hypothesized that the reports refer to an escaped pet or feral birds, but no explanation brought forth this far seems very convincing, with Greenway's (1967) theory that Dubois' description was based on a pet Lorius lory, for example, being ignorant of the fact that the distribution of green and red in this genus is exactly the other way around. Alternatively, Dubois might have seen a specimen of the Réunion Parakeet - likewise not known from bones, but a much more plausible hypothetical form - with an aberrant coloration. All that can be said is that Dubois' testimony is the only "evidence" on which this supposed species was founded, and that judging from its size it was almost certainly not a Necropsittacus, if it indeed existed as a distinct species. The colored plate in Rothschild, while of the same high artistic standard as all in this work, is entirely conjectural and obviously not accurate insofar as it shows a bird with the large-headed, massive-billed shape of the Rodrigues Parrot combined with the color pattern described by Dubois.^[2]

Extinction

Probably having been driven from the mainland by the rats in the late 17th century, the birds became increasingly rare as predators multiplied and spread to the offshore islets. In 1761, Pingré found the birds rare, with but a few still found. It was the last report on this species.

References

1. ^ Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 165. ISBN 0-06-055804-0. 
2. ^ http://julianhume.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Hume-Mascarene-Parrots.pdf

• BirdLife International (2004). Necropsittacus rodericanus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 24 Jun 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is extinct.
• Milne-Edwards, Alphonse (1867): Mémoire sur un Psittacien fossile de l'Île Rodrigue. Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. (Paris) 5(8): 145-156, plate 7: figures 1-2. [Article in French]
• Greenway, J. C. (1967): Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World. 2nd edition.: 112. Dover Publications, New York.
• Rothschild, Walter (1907): [Necropsittacus borbonicus]. In: Extinct Birds: 62, plate 8.