The Mauritius starling (''Cryptopsar ischyrhynchus'') is an extinct species of

starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...

, described in 2014 by

Julian P. Hume Julian Pender Hume (born 3 March 1960) is an English palaeontologist, artist and writer who lives in Wickham, Hampshire. He was born in Ashford, Kent, and grew up in Portsmouth, England. He attended Crookhorn Comprehensive School between 1971 an ...

, based on subfossils from

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

. The holotype mandible was discovered in 1904, but was hidden in a museum drawer for over a hundred years, hence the genus name. The Mauritius starling was shown to be closer to the

Rodrigues starling The Rodrigues starling (''Necropsar rodericanus'') is an extinct species of starling that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Rodrigues. Its closest relatives were the Mauritius starling and the hoopoe starling from nearby islands; all thr ...

than to the

hoopoe starling The hoopoe starling (''Fregilupus varius''), also known as the Réunion starling or Bourbon crested starling, is a species of starling that lived on the Mascarene island of Réunion and became extinct in the 1850s. Its closest relatives were th ...

of Réunion.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q18358162 Birds described in 2014 Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds of Mauritius Endemic fauna of Mauritius Extinct birds of Indian Ocean islands Holocene extinctions Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Sturnidae Extinct animals of Mauritius Fossil taxa described in 2014