The Mascarene teal (''Anas theodori''), also known as Sauzier's teal and Mauritian duck, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

dabbling duck The Anatinae are a subfamily of the family Anatidae ( swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a yo ...

that formerly occurred on the islands of Mauritius and

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

Taxonomy

The reports of Bernardin and (1710) Boucher are puzzling insofar as that they mention both geese, ''sarcelles'' (teals, this species) as well as ''canards'' (ducks, larger than ''sarcelles'') as occurring or having occurred on Réunion. It is possible that a carpometacarpus bone apparently of an '' Aythya'' diving duck is referrable to these ''canards''. If so, these birds were probably related to the Madagascar pochard, of which only small numbers are known to remain. Earlier, it was proposed that

Meller's duck Meller's duck (''Anas melleri'') is a species of the dabbling duck genus ''Anas''. It is endemic to eastern Madagascar. Although a population was established on Mauritius in the mid-18th century, this is on the verge of extinction due to habitat ...

, also from Madagascar, is the closest living relative of ''A. theodori'', but as more remains of the latter were unearthed this appears far less likely. Apart from a few, brief descriptions, not much is known about the bird in life, but its habits probably did not differ significantly from those of its close relatives. Bones have been found in the Mare aux Songes swamp on Mauritius and more recently on Réunion also. The scientific name honours Thé́odore Sauzier, who made many bones of extinct birds found on Mauritius available to science.

Description

It was a small teal of the '' Anas gibberifrons'' superspecies of the ''Anas''

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

''Nettion''. Its closest relative is probably Bernier's teal from Madagascar and, apart from having stronger wings and being considerably bigger (between a Sunda teal and a

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

in size), it seems to have looked very similar to that species.

Extinction

The bird became extinct on both islands almost simultaneously and for the same reason: overhunting. On Mauritius, the "grey teals" were found in "great numbers" in 1681, but in 1693, Leguat (1708) found "wild ducks" to be already rare. In 1696, governor Deodati mentioned the species for the last time to be extant. On Réunion, the species is last mentioned to occur "in quantity" in de la Merveille's 1709 listing of the island's wildlife, but as

Jean Feuilley Jean Feuilley was a pilot engineer and cartographer who was sent to Réunion by the French East India Company to investigate the possibility of agricultural and marine exploitation. He arrived in the island in 1704 and the following year returned ...

had not listed waterfowl in his 1705 report, de la Merveille's record is obviously based on obsolete hearsay information. The last reliable Réunion record of the species appears to be the report of

Père Bernardin A name suffix, in the Western English-language naming tradition, follows a person's full name and provides additional information about the person. Post-nominal letters indicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, accreditat ...

in 1687; thus, the date of extinction can be assumed to be the late 1690s on Mauritius, and a few years earlier on Réunion.

References

* Leguat, François (1708): ''Voyages et Avantures de François Leguat & de ses Compagnons, en Deux Isles Desertes des Indes Orientales, etc.'' 2: 71. Jean Louis de Lorme, Amsterdam
PDF fulltext available at Gallica: search for "Leguat"
* Newton, Edward & Gadow, Hans Friedrich (1893): On additional bones of the Dodo and other extinct birds of Mauritius obtained by Mr. Théodore Sauzier. ''Trans. Zool. Soc.'' 13: 281–302, plate 34: figures 11–17. {{Taxonbar, from=Q740229 Anas Extinct birds of Indian Ocean islands Extinct animals of Mauritius Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds of Mauritius Birds described in 1893 Birds of Réunion Taxa named by Edward Newton Taxa named by Hans Friedrich Gadow