Puerto Rican Conure
Puerto Rico Parakeet ( Aratinga chloroptera maugei )
The Puerto Rico Parakeet ( Aratinga chloroptera maugei ) is an extinct subspecies of the Haiti parakeet ( Aratinga chloroptera ). He was at home on the island of Mona, and probably on Puerto Rico. It is named after the French zoologist this parakeet René Maugé.
Features
The Puerto Rican parrot looked very similar to the Haiti parakeet. It reached a length of 32 cm. The plumage was mostly green. Of wing and under wing-coverts were red and his forehead sometimes had red feathers on. Through the green plumage often shimmered single red feathers. The beak was pink - yellow. Around the eyes was bare gray - white skin. The iris was yellowish -orange. The legs and feet were gray. Compared to the Haiti parakeet the Puerto Rican parrot 's beak darker, the red color under the coverts was a bit smaller, lighter. The small hand ceilings were completely green without reddish feathers.
Extinction
The last copy of the Puerto Rican parakeet was killed in 1892 by a bird collector named Wilmot W. Brown. In Puerto Rico, where the Puerto Rican parrot is known only through stories, he probably died out around 1860. 1883 saw the Puerto Rican researchers Agustín Stahl in the article contributions to the bird fauna of Porto Rico:
" Dr. J. Gundlach, a 45 year in Cuba more active German zoologist, has purchased with his tireless work worthy of recognition merit, particularly for his explorations of our animal kingdom. His f journals in ornithology, Jahrg 1878 pp. 157 et seq, published list and brief news about our birds raises the number to only 153 species, of which one, Conurus euops is long extinct. Present old men remember to have heard from their parents that this little parrot existed to those ancient times and in places wreaking even in the plantations damage flocks occurred, but soon through untiring pursuit is eradicated. "
1874 Juan Gundlach suspected that the Puerto Rican parrot would still exist in the Eastern forests of Puerto Rico. While James Lee Peters 1937 Puerto Rican parrot having regarded as still existent on Mona, he was declared in 1956 by James Bond finally extinct. As Aussterbeursache applies the destruction of forests and over-hunting as a supposed threat. Today there are three museum specimens in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the Museum Naturalis in Leiden and in the Muséum national d' histoire naturelle in Paris.
System
The Puerto Rican parrot has been described maugei 1856 by Charles de Souancé as Psittacara. In 1916, he was classified as a subspecies of Robert Ridgway. Although this taxon is now widely recognized, reported the American ornithologist James Cowan Greenway in 1967 doubts about the validity. He stated that only one was compared with the nominate of the three existing bellows and was of the view that it is barely distinguishable from Haiti parakeet.