Birdfinding.info ⇒ Last seen alive in 1892 on Mona Island, where it was evidently extinct by 1901. Reportedly common on Puerto Rico during the 1790s, but its habit of visiting plantations to feed on fruit led to an extermination campaign that succeeded by 1860. It remained common on Mona Island until at least 1875, and the eventual cause of its demise there is unknown.
Puerto Rican Parakeet †
Psittacara maugei
Extinct. Formerly endemic to Puerto Rico, Vieques, and Mona Island.
Identification
Similar to Hispaniolan Parakeet but somewhat larger, with a slightly more elongated bill and more extensively red underwing coverts.
Puerto Rican Parakeet, front view. © Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Puerto Rican Parakeet, dorsal view. © Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Notes
Monotypic species. Traditionally considered a subspecies of Hispaniolan Parakeet, but historical opinion at the time of its discovery and recently published research suggest that it is best regarded as a separate species.
References
BirdLife International. 2016. Psittacara chloropterus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22685695A93083622. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22685695A93083622.en. (Accessed November 16, 2017.)
Hume, J.P. 2017. Extinct Birds (Second Edition). Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London.
Olson, S.L. 2015. History, morphology, and fossil record of the extinct Puerto Rican Parakeet Psittacara maugei Souancé, Wilson Journal of Ornithology 127:1-12.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.