The extinct black-fronted parakeet or Tahiti parakeet (''Cyanoramphus zealandicus'') was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

island of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

. Its

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

name was simply ''’ā’ā'' ("parrot") according to Latham (1790) though White (1887) gives "''aa-maha''".

Etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

: After Tregear (1891), probably means "plentiful parrot". For the Samoan parrots used in the feather trade - probably blue-crowned lories (''Vini australis'') - Tregear (1891) records the Tahitian name "''aa-taevao''", "parrot imported from abroads". It was discovered on James Cook's first voyage in 1769, on which the two specimens now in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and the one in the

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Tring Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...

appear to have been collected. Two of them - one of those in Liverpool and the Tring specimen - may also have been taken on Cook's second voyage, in 1773, but the type was painted by

Sydney Parkinson Sydney Parkinson (c. 1745 – 26 January 1771) was a Scottish botanical illustrator and natural history artist. He was the first European artist to visit Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. Parkinson was the first Quaker to visit New Zealand. ...

who had died in 1771. Another specimen, collected by Amadis in 1842, is in the museum at Perpignan. The last known specimen was collected in 1844 by Lieutenant des Marolles, and is now housed in the

Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

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Extinction

Like its relative, the

Society parakeet The Raiatea parakeet or Society parakeet (''Cyanoramphus ulietanus''), also known as the Society kakariki or brown-headed parakeet, is an extinct parakeet of the genus ''Cyanoramphus''. Description The Raiatea parakeet averaged 25 cm (9.7 ...

, the species inhabited woodlands, but as testified by the 1773 report of

Georg Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (, 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold ...

, they were able to persist in numbers despite widespread deforestation for agriculture and the presence of the small

kiore The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, a ...

rats and pigs, which undoubtedly preyed on the bird's eggs on occasion. The natives of Tahiti, who valued red parrot feathers for use in handicraft above all others, had to trade for these with the

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

ns, as the black-fronted parakeet did not possess the desired feathers in sufficient quality and quantity. However, they liked to keep the species as pets. After the introduction of cats and European rats, the species rapidly succumbed to these predators.

Footnotes

References

* Latham, John (1790): escription of ''Cyanoramphus zealandicus'' ''Index Ornithologicus''. 1: 102. * Tregear, Edward Robert (1891):
Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary
'. Lyon and Blair, Wellington. Online version 2005-FEB-16. * White, John (1887): ''The Ancient History of the Māori'', Vol. 1: 55. Wellington, Government Printer.

External links

Drawing
Cyanoramphus Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1790 Extinct birds of Oceania Species endangered by invasive species {{parrot-stub