Mascarene Parrot
Réunion Parakeet ( Mascarinus mascarinus ); Illustration by Jacques Barraband from L' Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets (1805 ).
The Réunionsittich ( Mascarinus mascarinus ) or Maskarenenpapagei is an extinct species of parrots. He was the only species of the genus Mascarinus and inhabited Réunion, and possibly Mauritius. The approximately 35 cm large bird had a red beak, black and gray colored head plumage and dark gray Körperbefiederung.
In the wild the Réunionsittich died out after 1770, in captivity survived the way until the 1780s.
- 5.1 Literature
- 5.2 External links
- 5.3 Notes and references
Features
The Réunionsittich was a medium-sized parrot in size corresponded to about a rare parrot with a body length of about 35 cm. He had a parrot for its size relatively large head; also beak and claws were relatively strong. Its existing twelve feathers cock was not graded, but slightly rounded at the end.
The head of the Réunionsittichs was feathered light blue gray, around the beak pulled a black band that either ran down the throat or even covered her sides. Back, belly, rump and wings were apparently dark gray. Descriptions that speak of a brown body and brown wings, do not relate more to living individuals, but to products which have apparently discolored over time. The two middle tail feathers were uniformly dark colored ash-gray; the outer ten had the same color, however, were stained from the base to about one third of the total length white.
Beak and cere were colored bright red, as well as the skin around the eyes. The iris was red. The unbefiederten lower leg of the parrots were pale, gray-brown colored claws.
Dissemination
As of today, the distribution area of the Réunionsittichs included only the island of Réunion. Here, the species was described and subfossiles bone material found. Whether the Réunion Parakeet beyond was also indigenous to the nearby Mauritius, is unclear.
Taxonomy
History of Research
The first mention of Réunionsittichs found 1674 trip report by Father Dubois, the " slightly larger than a pigeon, great with plumage of fehgrauer color, a black skullcap on his head, the beak, strong & of fiery color parrots, " speaks of. In the taxonomic sense of Réunionsittich was the first time in 1760 by Mathurin Jacques Brisson - described as Psittacus Mascarinus, but not according to the rules in force today for the binomials. Validity has therefore Linnaeus description as Psittacus mascarinus of 1771st René Primevère Lesson presented the way finally in 1831 in a separate genus Mascarinus.
System
Like most birds of the Mascarene populated the ancestor of Réunionsittichs Réunion likely over the islands of the northern Indian Ocean. Like other parrot species of the Mascarene springs Mascarinus probably not a Radiation locally, but comes from a separate colonization, the species is probably of more recent origin than the Rodrigues Parrot ( Necropsittacus rodericanus ) and the Mauritius Parrot ( Lophopsittacus mauritianus ). The exact relationships are unclear. One possibility would be a relationship to the Reunion gray parakeet (Psittacula cf bensoni, possibly conspecific with the Mauritius Grey Parrot ), who was also stained predominantly gray. For a position in the tribe Psittaculini saith the red and broad beak of Maskarenenpapageis.
Extinction
The Réunionsittich disappeared in the 1770s. It is unlikely that its extinction is primarily due to rats or cats that existed about a century on the island at this time. It is more likely that the way the hunting pressure succumbed by escaped slaves who lived on in the inaccessible highlands of the island of wild birds. Some birds survived in captivity in Paris at least until 1784.