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AN UNDESCRIBED EXTINCT PARROT FROM MAURITIUS
... Holotype: Although Holyoak (1973a:417 ...
... Remarks: As specimens of P. bensoni are known only from the fossil collections of Etienne Thirioux and the species was described in life as grey, to avoid further confusion with the green Psittacula echo, the English name Thirioux's grey parrot, honouring the collector and indicating the colouration, is proposed here. Holyoak (1973a) diffidently placed bensoni in Lophopsittacus and he separated it from Lophopsittacus mauritianus on size alone, although there are discernible generic differences that he did not discuss. The species is clearly derived from Psittacula stock and is similar to Psittacula eupatria but larger and more robust in some elements (Fig. 19). ...
... The affinities of the endemic parrot genera are now difficult to determine, but as Psittacula has managed to colonise a number of isolated Indian Ocean islands (Groombridge et al. 2004), it is not unreasonable to postulate that members of the tribe Psittaculini gave rise to all Mascarene parrots. A number of authorities have already postulated a close relationship between Lophopsittacus, Necropsittacus, and Psittacula (Milne-Edwards 1873, Berlioz 1946, Holyoak 1973a ...
The parrots (Psittacidae: Lophopsittacus, Psittacula, Necropsittacus, Mascarinus) of the Mascarenes (Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues) have been relatively poorly studied. Most analyses have been based on a few skins, insufficient fossil material, and unreliable contemporary accounts and illustrations, which have led to erroneous interpretations. The discovery of new fossil remains of parrots and new interpretations of contemporary descriptions and illustrations has clarified many issues. One problematic species, Lophopsittacus bensoni is here removed to the genus Psittacula. A detailed comparative analysis of fossil skeletal elements indicates that the affinities of the Mascarene parrots lie within the Psittaculini, a wide ranging tribe of parrots that occurs mainly in Southeast Asia and Australasia. The Mascarenes are remote volcanic islands and biogeographical evidence presented here suggests that parrots reached this isolated group by island-hopping from India, probably during low sea level stands.
... Scale bar = 10 mm. …Also we found here many kinds of birds such as pigeons, herons, water-snipes [waders], grey parrots [Psittacula bensoni (Holyoak, 1973)], Indian river woodcocks [Aphanapteryx] as large as a hen; raboforcadoes [Frigatebirds Fregata sp.] were many, but not very good to eat and its wings were so long that I could not measure them. We also found handsome geese, ducks, cranes [flamingos] and other birds so tame that we caught almost all by hitting with a stick. ...
Five species in five genera of extinct endemic rails have been described from the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues: the Mauritian Red Rail or Poule Rouge Aphanapteryx bonasia; Mascarene Coot or Poule d’eau Fulica newtonii; which occurred on Mauritius and Réunion; Réunion Wood Rail Dryolimnas augusti; Réunion Gallinule or Oiseaux bleu ‘Porphyrio caerulescens’; and Rodrigues or Leguat’s Rail Erythromachus leguati. All are known from fossil remains and/or from contemporary accounts and illustrations. A sixth species of rail Dryolimnas sp. nov. is described
herein from fossils from Mauritius, but was not unequivocally previously reported in the contemporary literature. This paper provides an analysis of the Rallidae of the Mascarene Islands based on existing and newly discovered fossil remains, and details historical reports and accounts. Comprehensive osteological descriptions and synonymies are also included. Their ecology and extinction chronologies are interpreted from historical evidence. The relationships of Aphanapteryx and Erythromachus are unresolved, having clearly been isolated for a considerable time; the middle Miocene is the earliest their ancestors could have arrived on the Mascarenes, but this may have happened more recently. Mascarene derivatives of Fulica, Porphyrio and Dryolimnas are of much more recent origin, and appear to have originated in Africa or Madagascar. All terrestrial rails on Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues, were probable victims of cat predation following their historic introduction to the islands, whereas over-hunting by humans was probably the primary cause of extinction of ‘Porphyrio caerulescens’ on Réunion. The only extant rail on the Mascarenes today, the Madagascar race of Eurasian Moorhen Gallinula chloropus pyrrhorrhoa, is a recent arrival, having colonised Mauritius and Réunion after the extinction of Fulica newtonii.
... Newton & Newton 1876). Holyoak (1973) described a second species as L.bensoni, not the smaller 'raven', but the grey parrot of Cornelisz's text, now known to be a Psittacula, and named Thirioux's Grey Parrot (Hume 2007). L.mauritianus, the Raven Parrot, was strongly sexually dimorphic (Holyoak 1971, Hume 2007), so once that was established, the original text made sense. ...
Publication of the original manuscript shows that the adjectives 'large and small' did not apply to the two sexes of 'Indian ravens' (Lophopsittacus mauritianus), as in an edited compilation, but to rails Aphaphanpteryx bonasia and Dryolimnas sp. (undescribed); this is the only record of the Dryolimnas in life, known otherwise only from subfossil bones.
Habitat loss and degradation are currently the main anthropogenic causes of species extinctions. The root cause is human overpopulation. This unique volume provides, for the very first time, a comprehensive overview of all threatened and recently extinct mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes within the context of their locations and habitats. The approach takes a systematic examination of each biogeographic realm and region of the world, both terrestrial and marine, but with a particular emphasis on geographic features such as mountains, islands, and coral reefs. It reveals patterns useful in biodiversity conservation, helps to put it all into perspective, and ultimately serves as both a baseline from which to compare subsequent developments as well as a standardization of the way threatened species are studied.
Birds have long fascinated scientists and travellers, so their distribution and abundance through time have been better documented than those of other organisms. Many bird species are known to have gone extinct, but information on subspecies extinctions has never been synthesised comprehensively. We reviewed the timing, spatial patterns, trends and causes of avian extinctions on a global scale, identifying 279 ultrataxa (141 monotypic species and 138 subspecies of polytypic species) that have gone extinct since 1500. Species extinctions peaked in the early 20(th) century, then fell until the mid 20(th) century, and have subsequently accelerated. However, extinctions of ultrataxa peaked in the second half of the 20(th) century. This trend reflects a consistent decline in the rate of extinctions on islands since the beginning of the 20(th) century, but an acceleration in the extinction rate on continents. Most losses (78.7% of species and 63.0% of subspecies) occurred on oceanic islands. Geographic foci of extinctions include the Hawaiian Islands (36 taxa), mainland Australia and islands (29 taxa), the Mascarene Islands (27 taxa), New Zealand (22 taxa) and French Polynesia (19 taxa). The major proximate drivers of extinction for both species and subspecies are invasive alien species (58.2% and 50.7% of species and subspecies, respectively), hunting (52.4% and 18.8%) and agriculture, including non-timber crops and livestock farming (14.9% and 31.9%). In general, the distribution and drivers of subspecific extinctions are similar to those for species extinctions. However, our finding that, when subspecies are considered, the extinction rate has accelerated in recent decades is both novel and alarming.
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