The Seychelles parakeet or Seychelles Island parrot (Psittacula wardi) is an extinct species of parrot that was endemic to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. It was scientifically named Palaeornis wardi by the British ornithologist Edward Newton in 1867, and the specific name honours the British civil commissioner Swinburne Ward who procured the specimens that formed the basis for the description. It was found on the islands of Mahé, Silhouette, and possibly Praslin. Ten skin specimens exist today, but no skeletons. Though the species was later moved to the genus Psittacula, genetic studies have led some researchers to suggest it should belong in a reinstated Palaeornis along with the closely related Alexandrine parakeet (P. eupatria) of Asia. This parakeet was about 41 cm (16 in) in length, with a long, pointed tail. The male was mainly green, with blue on parts of the head, and a black stripe on the cheek. The underside was yellowish, and the bird had a purple-red patch on the wings. The tail was blue, green, and yellow, and the bill was red and yellow. The female lacked the cheek-stripe, and the juvenile resembled the female. A single depiction from life is known, an 1883 painting by the British artist Marianne North. Little is known regarding the bird's habits, but they were presumably similar to those of the Alexandrine parakeet, associating in groups in forests, and making flights between communal roost sites and feeding areas. It lived in native forest, but adapted to cultivated areas as these were cleared, and its diet included fruit. Though abundant in 1811, it had become rare by 1867 because of human persecution for its perceived damage to crops. The last confirmed individual was shot in 1893, and no birds could be found by 1906.
Taxonomy In 1867, the British ornithologist Edward Newton scientifically described and named new species he had obtained during his month-long stay on the Seychelles, including the Seychelles parakeet, which he named Palaeornis wardi. He stated its common name was "cateau vert", and that the specific name honoured Swinburne Ward, the British civil commissioner to the Seychelles from 1862 to 1868. Ward had procured three skins of the bird from the island of Mahé (the largest island of the Seychelles), from which the species was described; these syntype specimens are catalogued as UMZC18/Psi/67/g/1-3 at the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology, and include two females and a male. Newton did not find any birds on Mahé when he visited in 1866, but saw them on neighbouring Silhouette. Based on hearsay evidence, Newton stated they also lived on the island of Praslin. Newton and his brother, British ornithologist Alfred Newton, published an illustration depicting both sexes in 1876 by the Dutch artist John Gerrard Keulemans, based on subsequently received specimens. Keulemans' illustration of the species for the British zoologist Walter Rothschild's 1907 book Extinct Birds was based on his earlier illustration. Ten skin specimens exist today, but no skeletons, housed at Cambridge University, the Natural History Museum at Tring, the National Museum of Natural History, France, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
