The Réunion fody (''Foudia delloni'') is an extinct bird species from the family of
weavers
Weaver or Weavers may refer to:
Activities
* A person who engages in weaving fabric
Animals
* Various birds of the family Ploceidae
* Crevice weaver spider family
* Orb-weaver spider family
* Weever (or weever-fish)
Arts and entertainmen ...
. It was endemic 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
Réunion.
Taxonomy
This bird was first mentioned in a report by traveller
Gabriel Dellon[Cheke & Hume p. 43 & p. 228] and a second time in 1674 by Dubois.
[Cheke & Hume p. 228] The species, of which no museum specimen exist
was formally described as new species by
Anthony Cheke
Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton ...
and
Julian Pender 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 ...
in the Book ''Lost Land of the Dodo'' in 2008.
A type of fody on Réunion was previously mentioned as ''Foudia bruante'' by
Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller
Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller (25 April 1725 – 5 January 1776) was a German zoologist.
Statius Müller was born in Esens, and was a professor of natural science at Erlangen. Between 1773 and 1776, he published a German translation of Linnaeu ...
in the work ''
Planches Enluminées'' in 1776.
But after a hypothesis by Cheke and Hume ''Foudia bruante'' might be just a colour morph
of the
red fody which was introduced to Réunion about 100 years after the discovery of ''Foudia delloni''.
Description
The Réunion fody reached roughly the size of a
house sparrow. The head, neck, throat and the wing underparts of the breeding male were bright red. Back and tail were brown. The belly was pale. The head of the females and the juvenile males was brown. Neck and wings were red. The throat was pale brown.
[Cheke & Hume p. 43]
Extinction
The Réunion fody was once described as abundant and as pest that destroyed entire crops.
It was last seen shortly after 1672. The reason for its extinction might be the predation by rats.
Notes
References
* Anthony Cheke & Julian Hume (2008): ''Lost Land of the Dodo'' T. & A.D. Poyser. .
*
Sieur Dubois (1674): ''Les voyages faits par le Sieur D.B. aux îles Dauphine ou Madagascar et Bourbon. ou Mascareine ès années 1669, 1670, 1671 et 1672''. Claude Barbin, Paris. 234 pp.
* Gabriel Dellon (1685): ''Relation d'un voyage des Indes orientales. Claude Barbin, Paris. 284 pp.
* R. E. Moreau: ''The ploceine weavers of the Indian Ocean islands''. Journal of Ornithology. Volume 101, Numbers 1-2 / April 1960. pp. 29–49. Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, (about Foudia bruante).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reunion Fody
Foudia
Extinct birds of Indian Ocean islands
Bird extinctions since 1500
Birds of Réunion
Birds described in 2008