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The species Mascarene Grey Parakeet is extinct. |
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Alternative name Mauritius Gray Parrot
Alternative names: Thirioux's Grey Parrot; Mauritius Grey Parrot
- Lophopsittacus bensoni
Psittacula bensoni
Identification
The Mascarene Grey Parakeet is only known from a 1602 sketch by Captain Willem van Westzanen and from subfossil bones described by David Thomas Holyoak in 1973. Similar bones described as Psittacula cf bensoni by Julian Pender Hume in 2007 were found on Réunion.
Distribution
Mauritius Island and possibly Reunion Island.
Taxonomy
Formerly placed in genus Psittacula.
Habitat
Behaviour
When an individual of the Mascarene Grey Parakeet was caught it made a loud squawk so that all members of the flock were attracted to follow that squawk. So it was easy for the hunters to take and kill the Mascarene Grey Parakeet in a large scale.
Extinction
The Mascarene Grey Parakeet became extinct by overhunting and by large scale slash-and-burn forest clearance. It was last reported in the 1730s.
References
- Anthony Cheke & Julian Hume: Lost Land of the Dodo. T. & A.D. Poyser, 2008, ISBN 0-7136-6544-0.
- Julian Pender Hume: Reappraisal of the parrots (Aves: Psittacidae) from the Mascarene Islands, with comments on their ecology, morphology, and affinities. Magnolia Press, Auckland, New Zealand. 2007. ISSN 1175-5326
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
