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Newton's parakeet (''Psittacula exsul''), also known as the Rodrigues parakeet or Rodrigues ring-necked parakeet, is an extinct
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...
that 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
Mascarene The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Thei ...
island of Rodrigues in the western
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
. Several of its features diverged from related species, indicating long-term isolation on Rodrigues and subsequent adaptation. The
rose-ringed parakeet The rose-ringed parakeet (''Psittacula krameri''), also known as the ring-necked parakeet (more commonly known as the Indian ringneck parrot), is a medium-sized parrot in the genus Psittacula, of the family Psittacidae. It has disjunct native ran ...
of the same
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
is a close relative and probable ancestor. Newton's parakeet may itself have been ancestral to the endemic parakeets of nearby
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 ...
and Réunion. Around long, Newton's parakeet was roughly the size of a rose-ringed parakeet. Its plumage was mostly greyish or slate blue in colour, which is unusual in ''
Psittacula Members of the parrot genus ''Psittacula'' or Afro-Asian ring-necked parrots they are commonly known in aviculture originate from Africa to South-East Asia. It is a widespread group with a clear concentration of species in south Asia, but also ...
'', a genus containing mostly green species. The male had stronger colours than the female and possessed a reddish instead of black
beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for foo ...
, but details of a mature male's appearance are uncertain; only one male specimen is known, and it is believed to be immature. Mature males might have possessed red patches on the wing like the related
Alexandrine parakeet The Alexandrine parakeet (''Psittacula eupatria''), also known as the Alexandrine parrot, is a medium-sized parrot in the genus Psittacula of the family Psittaculidae. It is named after Alexander the Great, who transported numerous birds from Pu ...
. Both sexes had a black collar running from the chin to the
nape The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is also called the nucha (from the Medieval Latin rendering of the Arabic , "spinal marrow"). The corresponding adjective is ''nuchal'', as in the term ''nu ...
, but this was clearer in the male. The legs were grey and the
iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...
yellow. Some 17th-century accounts indicate that some members of the species were green, which would suggest that both blue and green colour morphs occurred, but no definitive explanation exists for these reports. Little is known about its behaviour in life, but it may have fed on the nuts of the bois d'olive tree, along with leaves. It was very tame and was able to mimic speech. Newton's parakeet was first written about by the French
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
François Leguat François Leguat (1637/1639 – September 1735) was a French explorer and naturalist. He was one of a small group of male French Protestant refugees who in 1691 settled on the then uninhabited island of Rodrigues in the western Indian Ocean. T ...
in 1708 and was only mentioned a few times by other writers afterwards. The specific name "''exsul''" is a reference to Leguat, who was exiled from France. Only two life drawings exist, both of a single specimen held in captivity in the 1770s. The species was scientifically described in 1872, with a female specimen as the
holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...
. A male, the last specimen recorded, was collected in 1875, and these two specimens are the only ones that exist today. The bird became scarce due to deforestation and perhaps hunting, but it was thought to have been finally wiped out by a series of cyclones and storms that hit Rodrigues in the late 19th century. Speculation about the possible survival of the species, though unfounded, lasted as late as 1967.


Taxonomy

Newton's parakeet was first recorded by
François Leguat François Leguat (1637/1639 – September 1735) was a French explorer and naturalist. He was one of a small group of male French Protestant refugees who in 1691 settled on the then uninhabited island of Rodrigues in the western Indian Ocean. T ...
in his 1708 memoir ''A New Voyage to the East Indies''. Leguat was the leader of a group of nine
French Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Beza ...
refugees who colonised Rodrigues between 1691 and 1693 after they were
marooned Marooned may refer to: * Marooning Marooning is the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area, such as a desert island, or more generally (usually in passive voice) to be marooned is to be in a place from which one cannot escape ...
there. Subsequent accounts were by Julien Tafforet, who was marooned on the island in 1726, in his ''Relation de l'Île Rodrigue'', and then by the French mathematician Alexandre Pingré, who travelled to Rodrigues to view the
1761 transit of Venus file:Venus transit symbol.svg, frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a inferior and superior planets, superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence ...
. In 1871, George Jenner, the British
magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
of Rodrigues, collected a female specimen; it was preserved in alcohol and given to
Edward Newton Sir Edward Newton (10 November 1832 – 25 April 1897) was a British colonial administrator and ornithologist. He was born at Elveden Hall, Suffolk the sixth and youngest son of William Newton, MP. He was the brother of ornithologist Alfre ...
, a British
colonial administrator Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
in
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 ...
, who sent it to his brother, the ornithologist
Alfred Newton Alfred Newton FRS HFRSE (11 June 18297 June 1907) was an English zoologist and ornithologist. Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. Among his numerous publications were a four-volume ''Dictionar ...
. A. Newton scientifically described the species in 1872 and gave it the scientific name ''Palaeornis exsul''. "''Exsul''" ("exiled") refers to Leguat, in that he was exiled from France when he gave the first description of the bird. Newton had tried to find a more descriptive name, perhaps based on colouration, but found it difficult. He refrained from publishing a figure of the female in his original description, though the journal ''
Ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word ...
'' had offered him the space. He instead wanted to wait until a male specimen could be procured since he imagined it would be more attractive. The female, which is the
holotype specimen A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...
of the species, is housed in the Cambridge University Museum as specimen UMZC 18/Psi/67/h/1. A. Newton requested further specimens, especially males, but in 1875 he finally published a plate of the female, lamenting that no male specimens could be found. Tafforet's 1726 account had been rediscovered the previous year, and A. Newton noted that it confirmed his assumption that the male would turn out be much more colourful than the female. Newton's collector, the English naturalist Henry H. Slater, had seen a live Newton's parakeet the year before, but was not carrying a gun at the time. On 14 August 1875, William Vandorous shot a male specimen. It may have been the same specimen Slater had observed. It was subsequently sent to E. Newton by William J. Caldwell. This is the
paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). O ...
of the species, numbered UMZC 18/Psi/67/h/2 and housed in the Cambridge Museum. In 1876, the Newton brothers noted that they had expected the male would be adorned with a red patch on the wing, but that the absence of this indicated it was immature. They still found it more beautiful than the female. These two specimens are the only preserved individuals of the species. The
mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...
and
sternum The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury. Sha ...
were extracted from the female specimen, and subfossil remains have since been found in the Plaine Corail caverns on Rodrigues. The American ornithologist James L. Peters used the name ''Psittacula exsul'' for Newton's parakeet in his 1937 checklist of birds, replacing the
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
name '' Palaeornis'' with ''
Psittacula Members of the parrot genus ''Psittacula'' or Afro-Asian ring-necked parrots they are commonly known in aviculture originate from Africa to South-East Asia. It is a widespread group with a clear concentration of species in south Asia, but also ...
'', wherein he also classified other extant parakeets of Asia and Africa.


Evolution

Based on morphological features, the
Alexandrine parakeet The Alexandrine parakeet (''Psittacula eupatria''), also known as the Alexandrine parrot, is a medium-sized parrot in the genus Psittacula of the family Psittaculidae. It is named after Alexander the Great, who transported numerous birds from Pu ...
(''Psittacula eupatria'') has been proposed as the
founder population In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1942, using ...
for all ''Psittacula'' species on Indian Ocean islands, with new populations settling during the species' southwards colonisation from its native South Asia. Features of that species gradually disappear in species further away from its range. Subfossil remains of Newton's parakeet show that it differed from other Mascarene ''Psittacula'' species in some
osteological Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, func ...
features, but also had similarities, such as a reduced sternum, which suggests a close relationship. Skeletal features indicate an especially close relationship with the Alexandrine parakeet and the
rose-ringed parakeet The rose-ringed parakeet (''Psittacula krameri''), also known as the ring-necked parakeet (more commonly known as the Indian ringneck parrot), is a medium-sized parrot in the genus Psittacula, of the family Psittacidae. It has disjunct native ran ...
(''Psittacula krameri''), but the many derived features of Newton's parakeet indicates it had long been isolated on Rodrigues. Many endemic Mascarene birds, including the
dodo The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire. The ...
, are descended from South Asian ancestors, and the British palaeontologist
Julian 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 ...
has proposed that this may also be the case for all parrots there. Sea levels were lower during the
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
, so it was possible for species to colonise some of these less isolated islands. Although most extinct parrot species of the Mascarenes are poorly known, subfossil remains show that they shared common features such as enlarged heads and jaws, reduced
pectoral Pectoral may refer to: * The chest region and anything relating to it. * Pectoral cross, a cross worn on the chest * a decorative, usually jeweled version of a gorget * Pectoral (Ancient Egypt), a type of jewelry worn in ancient Egypt * Pectorali ...
bones, and robust leg bones. Hume has suggested that they all have a common origin in the radiation of the
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
Psittaculini, members of which are known as Psittaculines, basing this theory on morphological features and the fact that ''Psittacula'' parrots have managed to colonise many isolated islands in the Indian Ocean. The Psittaculini could have invaded the area several times, as many of the species were so specialised that they may have evolved significantly on hotspot islands before the Mascarenes emerged from the sea. Other members of the genus ''Psittacula'' from the Mascarenes include the extant
echo parakeet The echo parakeet (''Psittacula eques'') is a species of parrot endemic to the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius and formerly Réunion. It is the only living native parrot of the Mascarene Islands; all others have become extinct due to human activ ...
(''Psittacula eques echo'') of Mauritius, as well as the extinct Réunion parakeet (''Psittacula eques eques''), and Mascarene grey parakeet (''Psittacula bensoni'') of both Mauritius and Réunion. A 2011
genetic study Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working i ...
of parrot
phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...
was unable to include Newton's parakeet, as no viable DNA could be extracted. A 2015 genetic study by the British geneticist Hazel Jackson and colleagues included viable DNA from the toe-pad of the female Newton's parakeet specimen. It was found to group within a clade of rose-ringed parakeet subspecies (from Asia and Africa), which it had diverged from 3.82 million years ago. Furthermore, Newton's parakeet appeared to be ancestral to the parakeets of Mauritius and Réunion. The
cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...
accompanying the study is shown below: In 2018, the American ornithologist Kaiya L. Provost and colleagues found the
Mascarene parrot The Mascarene parrot or mascarin (''Mascarinus mascarinus'') is an extinct species of parrot that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean. The taxonomic relationships of this species have been subject to ...
(''Mascarinus marscarinus'') and ''
Tanygnathus ''Tanygnathus'' is a genus of parrots in the Psittaculini tribe, of the superfamily of Psittacoidea (true parrots). Its species are native to Southeast Asia and Melanesia. Taxonomy The genus ''Tanygnathus'' was introduced by the German natura ...
'' species to group within ''Psittacula'', making that genus paraphyletic (an unnatural grouping), and stated this argued for breaking up the latter genus. To solve the issue, the German ornithologist Michael P. Braun and colleagues proposed in 2019 that ''Psittacula'' should be split into multiple genera. They placed Newton's parakeet in the new genus ''Alexandrinus'', along with its closest relatives.


Description

Newton's parakeet was about long – roughly the size of the rose-ringed parakeet. The wing of the male specimen was , the tail , the culmen , and the tarsus was . The wing of the female specimen was , the tail , the culmen , and the tarsus was . The male specimen was greyish blue (also described as " slatey blue") tinged with green, and darker above. The head was bluer, with a dark line running from the eye to the
cere The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...
. It had a broad black collar running from the chin to the
nape The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is also called the nucha (from the Medieval Latin rendering of the Arabic , "spinal marrow"). The corresponding adjective is ''nuchal'', as in the term ''nu ...
, where it became gradually narrower. The underside of the tail was greyish, the upper beak was dark reddish brown, and the mandible was black. The legs were grey and the iris yellow. The female was similar but had a greyer head and a black beak. The black collar was not so prominent as that of the male and did not extend to the back of the neck. The general appearance of Newton's parakeet was similar to the extant ''Psittacula'' species, including the black collar, but the bluish grey colouration set it apart from other members of its genus, which are mostly green. It differed from its Mascarene relatives in some skeletal details, including in that the internal margin of the mandibular symphysis (where the two halves of the lower jaw connected) was oval instead of square-shaped when seen from above, and in that the upper end of the humerus (upper arm bone) was less expanded than in the Mascarene grey parakeet and the echo parakeet.


Possible colour variation

The French naturalist
Philibert Commerson Philibert Commerson (; 18 November 1727 – 14 March 1773), sometimes spelled Commerçon by contemporaries, was a French naturalist, best known for accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of circumnavigation in 1766–1769. ...
received a live specimen on Mauritius in the 1770s and described it as "greyish blue". French artist Paul Philippe Sanguin de Jossigny made two illustrations of this specimen, the only known depictions of Newton's parakeet in life, unpublished until 2007. Though both existing specimens are blue, some early accounts from Rodrigues have caused confusion over the colouration of the plumage. One of these is Leguat's following statement: If the green parrots Leguat referred to were not the Rodrigues parrot (''Necropsittacus rodericanus''), they might perhaps have been a green colour morph of Newton's parakeet, as Hume has suggested. As A. Newton observed in his original description, some feathers of the female specimen display both blue and green tinges, depending on the light. This may explain some of the discrepancies. According to Fuller, the green parrots mentioned could also instead have been storm-blown members of ''Psittacula'' species from other islands, that survived on Rodrigues for a short time. The two existing specimens were originally preserved in alcohol, but though this can discolour specimens, it is not probable that it could turn green to blue. Hume and the Dutch orhinthologist Hein van Grouw have also suggested that due to an inheritable
mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA replication, DNA or viral repl ...
, some Newton's parakeets may have lacked psittacin, a
pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...
that together with eumelanin produces green colouration in parrot feathers. Complete lack of psittacine produces blue colouration, whereas reduced psittacine can produce a colour between green and blue called parblue, which corresponds to the colour of the two preserved Newton's parakeet specimens. The reason why only parblue specimens are known today may be due to collecting bias, as unusually coloured specimens are more likely to be collected than those of normal colour. Tafforet also described what appears to be green Newton's parakeets, but the issue of colouration was further complicated by the mention of red plumage: In 1987, the British ecologist Anthony S. Cheke proposed that the last two types mentioned were male and female Newton's parakeets, and that the differences between them were due to
sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...
. The last bird mentioned had earlier been identified as introduced grey-headed lovebirds (''Agapornis canus'') by A. Newton, but Cheke did not find this likely, as their beaks are grey. Pingré also mentioned green birds, perhaps with some red colours, but his account is partially unintelligible and therefore ambiguous. A red shoulder patch is also present on the related Alexandrine parakeet. None of the existing Newton's parakeet specimens have red patches. Fuller suggested the single known male specimen may have been immature, judged on the colour of its beak, and this may also explain the absence of the red patch. When ''Psittacula'' are bred by aviculturalists, blue is easily produced from green; the production of blue may suppress red colouration, so blue morphs may have lacked the red patch.


Behaviour and ecology

Almost nothing is known about the behaviour of Newton's parakeet, but it is probable that it was similar to that of other members of its genus. Leguat mentioned that the parrots of the island ate the nuts of the bois d'olive tree ('' Cassine orientalis''). Tafforet also stated that the parrots ate the seeds of the bois de buis shrub ('' Fernelia buxifolia''), which is endangered today, but was common all over Rodrigues and nearby islets during his visit. Newton's parakeet may have fed on leaves as the related echo parakeet does. The fact that it survived long after Rodrigues had been heavily deforested shows that its ecology was less vulnerable than that of, for example, the Rodrigues parrot. Leguat and his men were hesitant to hunt the parrots of Rodrigues because they were so tame and easy to catch. Leguat's group took a parrot as a pet and were able to teach it to speak: The authors of the 2015 study which resolved the phylogenetic placement of the Mascarene island parakeets suggested that the echo parakeet of Mauritius would be a suitable ecological replacement for the Réunion parakeet and Newton's parakeet, due to their close evolutionary relationship. The echo parakeet was itself close to extinction in the 1980s, numbering only twenty individuals, but has since recovered, so introducing it to the nearby islands could also help secure the survival of this species. Many other species endemic to Rodrigues became extinct after humans arrived, and the island's ecosystem remains heavily damaged. Forests had covered the entire island before humans arrived, but very little forestation can be seen today. Newton's parakeet lived alongside other recently extinct birds such as the
Rodrigues solitaire The Rodrigues solitaire (''Pezophaps solitaria'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Genetically within the family of pigeons and doves, it was most closely relate ...
, the Rodrigues parrot, the
Rodrigues rail The Rodrigues rail (''Erythromachus leguati''), also known as Leguat's gelinote or Leguat's rail, is an extinct species of the rail family that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It is ge ...
, 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 thre ...
, the Rodrigues scops owl, the Rodrigues night heron, and the Rodrigues pigeon. Extinct reptiles include the
domed Rodrigues giant tortoise The domed Rodrigues giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis peltastes'') is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. It was endemic to Rodrigues. It appears to have become extinct around 1800, as a result of human exploitation ...
, the
saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise The saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis vosmaeri)'' is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species was endemic to Rodrigues. Human exploitation caused the extinction of this species around 180 ...
, and the
Rodrigues day gecko The Rodrigues day gecko (''Phelsuma edwardnewtoni''), also known Common name, commonly as the Rodrigues blue-dotted day gecko, is an extinct species of day gecko, a lizard in the Family (biology), family Gekkonidae. The species was Endemism, ende ...
.


Extinction

Of the roughly eight parrot species endemic to the Mascarenes, only the echo parakeet has survived. The others were likely all made extinct by a combination of excessive hunting and
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...
by humans. Leguat stated that Newton's parakeet was abundant during his stay. It was still common when Tafforet visited in 1726, but when Pingré mentioned it in 1761, he noted that the bird had become scarce. It was still present on southern islets off Rodrigues (Isle Gombrani), along with the Rodrigues parrot. After this point, much of Rodrigues was severely deforested and used for
livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...
. According to early accounts praising its flavour, it appears visitors commonly ate Newton's parakeet. Several individuals would likely be needed to provide a single meal, owing to the bird's small size. Pingré stated: According to government surveyor Thomas Corby, Newton's parakeet may still have been fairly common in 1843. Slater reported that he saw a single specimen in southwestern Rodrigues during his three-month stay to observe the 1874 Transit of Venus, and assistant colonial secretary William J. Caldwell saw several specimens in 1875 during his own three-month visit. The male that he received in 1875 and gave to Newton is the last recorded member of the species. A series of cyclones struck the following year and may have devastated the remaining population. Further severe storms hit in 1878 and 1886, and since few forested areas were left by this time, there was little cover to protect any remaining birds. The male could, therefore, have been the last of the species alive. There were unfounded rumours of its continued existence until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1967, the American ornithologist
James Greenway James Cowan Greenway (April 7, 1903 – June 10, 1989) was an American ornithologist. An eccentric, shy, and often reclusive man, his survey of extinct and vanishing birds provided the base for much subsequent work on bird conservation. Early ...
stated that an extremely small population might still survive on small offshore islets, since this is often the last refuge of endangered birds. Hume countered that these islets were probably too small to sustain a population.


References


External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q634873 Psittacula Extinct birds of Indian Ocean islands Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1872 Taxa named by Alfred Newton Fauna of Rodrigues Species made extinct by human activities Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN