Mauritian Parakeet

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Mauritian Parakeet
Female of the Mauritian Parakeet in the breeding station

Female of the Mauritian Parakeet in the breeding station

Systematics
Order : Parrots (Psittaciformes)
Superfamily : Real parrots (Psittacoidea)
Family : True parrots (Psittacidae)
Subfamily : Eclectic parrots (Psittaculinae)
Genre : Noble Parakeets ( Psittacula )
Type : Mauritian Parakeet
Scientific name
Psittacula eques echo
( Boddaert , 1783)

The Mauritian parakeet ( Psittacula eques echo , also: Echo parakeet , English echo parakeet , Mauritius parakeet ) is a species of parrot that is endemic to Mauritius in the southern Indian Ocean . It is the only surviving species of mascarene parrot . All others died out due to human influence. It was closely related to the extinct Réunion ring-necked parakeet from the island of Réunion . This species has long been regarded as a species in its own right , but a 2015 DNA study showed that it is probably only a subspecies .

Systematics

Drawing by Martinet, 1779

The change in the nomenclature of Psittacula echo met with broad approval in the literature and more and more evidence suggests that the Réunion ring-necked parakeet, which until then was only known from paintings and hearsay, actually existed, namely one has a hide in it Royal Museum of Scotland and various descriptions discovered. The question of whether it is an independent species is assessed differently depending on the lumpers and splinters .

evolution

The parrots on the Mascarene Islands are assumed to come from South Asia. During the Pleistocene , sea levels were significantly lower, making it easier for animals to get from island to island. Of the eight endemic parrot species, all but the Mauritian parakeet are extinct. Despite sparse comparative materials and fossils, it can be shown that these extinct species had special features such as enlarged heads and beaks, as well as robust legs and feet, but the bones and muscles of the chest were reduced. Julian P. Hume places them in the Psittaculini family and assumes that they developed from this family through adaptive radiation . In addition to morphological characteristics, this is supported by the fact that the Psittacula parakeets have managed to colonize a number of isolated islands in the Indian Ocean . It is possible that the colonization took place in several waves and that a differentiation on other hotspot islands occurred before the Mascarene Islands emerged from the sea. In 2012, a genetic test revealed that the Reunion Parakeet was one of several subspecies of the Lesser Vasa Parrot from Madagascar and nearby islands. It therefore does not belong to the Psittacula parakeets. This is all the more surprising as his physique seems to belong to this group.

The following cladogram tries to illustrate the phylogenetic position of the species on Mauritius and Réunion based on the studies by Jackson et al., 2015:





Psittacula krameri parvirostris (Abyssinian rose-ringed parakeet)


   

Psittacula krameri manillensis (Indian rose-ringed parakeet)


   

Psittacula krameri borealis (Boreal rose-ringed parakeet)




   


Psittacula echo ( Mauritius parakeet )


   

Psittacula eques ( Réunion parakeet )



   

Psittacula exsul (Newton's parakeet)




   

Psittacula krameri krameri (African rose-ringed parakeet)



Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

features

Bird in the thicket.
Male in Mauritius.

The echo parrot is broadly similar to its closest relative, the ring-necked parakeet, except that it is more stocky, has a shorter tail, and is a more intense emerald green . The females lack the collar and their beak is completely black, while the males have a red upper beak. These characteristics are also present in the Alexander Parakeet, which, however, is not particularly closely related. They are also observed in the Red-breasted Parakeet ( Psittacula alexandri ), the Chinese Parakeet and the Blyth Parakeet ( Psittacula caniceps ), which are closely related to each other, but only largely to the Mauritius Parakeet.

Hazard and protection

Captive chick

The Mauritian Parakeet is one of the greatest successes in wildlife conservation in recent decades. By the 1980s the species was almost extinct. There were only about 10 birds left and they had hardly ever hatched successfully since the 1970s. Above all, there was a lack of suitable nesting opportunities and brood predators such as house rats and long-tailed macaques had attacked the clutches. In addition, there was disturbance from humans and wild pigs and deer and competition with other species and the newly introduced ring-necked parakeets seemed to doom the Mauritius parakeet to extinction. But a team under Carl Jones (known for its commitment to the conservation of the Mauritius falcon and its mention in The Last of their Kind ) took over the conservation of the species. A self-sacrificing research and conservation project was started and by the end of the 1980s the situation had stabilized, albeit on a very low level. In the mid-1990s there were again 50-60 individuals and intensive care of the wild population by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation began. These efforts bore fruit and by January 2000 the number of birds had grown to 100.

Illustration of the extinct Réunion parakeet by, Jacques Barraband , 1801.

Today 280-300 animals are living in the wild again, of the approximately 200 sexually mature animals, about one half consists of breeding pairs and the other half of individual males. In the Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary , however, there were some losses and now only a single male lives there. Because of these developments, the Mauritius parakeet has not been classified as "critically endangered" since 2007, but "only" as "endangered" ( Red List of Threatened Species ). The goal is to maintain a stable population of more than 300 adult birds in the wild.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. BirdLife International (2006, 2007b), Hume (2007)
  2. Julian Pender Hume: Reappraisal of the parrots (Aves: Psittacidae) from the Mascarene Islands, with comments on their ecology, morphology, and affinities. In: Zootaxa . 1513, 2007, pp. 1-76 (PDF abstract) .
  3. ^ AS Cheke, JP Hume: Lost Land of the Dodo: an Ecological History of Mauritius, Réunion & Rodrigues . T. & AD Poyser, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7136-6544-4 .
  4. ^ S. Kundu, CG Jones, RP Prys-Jones, JJ Groombridge: The evolution of the Indian Ocean parrots (Psittaciformes): Extinction, adaptive radiation and eustacy . In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . tape 62 , no. 1 , 2011, p. 296-305 , doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2011.09.025 , PMID 22019932 .
  5. ^ JP Hume, M. Walters: Extinct Birds . A & C Black, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4081-5725-1 .
  6. H. Jackson, CG Jones, PM Agapow, V. Tatayah, JJ Groombridge: Micro-evolutionary diversification among Indian Ocean parrots: temporal and spatial changes in phylogenetic diversity as a consequence of extinction and invasion . In: Ibis . tape 157 , no. 3 , 2015, p. 496-510 , doi : 10.1111 / ibi.12275 .
  7. Juniper & Parr (1998), Groombridge et al. (2006).
  8. BirdLife International (2007b).
  9. There has always been an overhang of males, which are three times as likely to be hatched as females.
  10. BirdLife International (2007b) has a detailed report on Art.
  11. ^ See BirdLife International (2006, 2007a, b).

Web links

Commons : Rose-ringed Parakeet  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files