Polynesian Eclectus Parrot
| Polynesian Eclectus Parrot | ||||||||||||
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Drawing of an unknown parrot species from Vavaʻu, which could represent the Polynesian Eclectus Parrot |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Eclectus infectus | ||||||||||||
| Steadman , 2006 |
The Polynesian Eclectus Parrot ( Eclectus infectus ) is an extinct species of parrot that was found in Tonga , Vanuatu and probably Fiji . The fossil material, which was discovered in November 1989 in deposits of the Young Pleistocene and Holocene on ʻEua , Lifuka , Uiha and on Vanuatu and described by ornithologist David William Steadman in 2006 , consists of a complete femur and five radii , a square bone , a lower jaw bone , and a Coracoid , two sternum bones , two humerus bones , two ulne , two tibiotarsi , one carpometacarpus , one tarsometatarsus and three toe bones.
On Tonga , the Polynesian Eclectus Parrot probably died out during the early colonization over 3000 years ago. On Vavaʻu it could have survived into historical times, as a drawing made in 1793 during the Malaspina expedition depicts a parrot that looks very similar to the male of a noble parrot.
The only living representatives in the genus Eclectus is the Edelpapagei ( Eclectus roratus has), the proportionally greater than the wing Polynesische Edelpapagei and from the Solomon Islands to the Molukken is widespread.
literature
- David William Steadman: A New Species of Extinct Parrot (Psittacidae: Eclectus) from Tonga and Vanuatu, South Pacific . Pacific Science, Volume 60, Number 1, January 2006, pp. 137-145 PDF, online
