| 2009 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN): Extinct Family/Sub-family Psittacidae Species name author (Gould, 1845) Taxonomic source(s) Brooks (2000), Christidis and Boles (1994), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) |
Summary Psephotus pulcherrimus was found in central and southern (and possibly northern) Queensland and northern New South Wales, Australia3. The species was locally common although generally scarce in the 19th century3, but then declined rapidly and was thought to have become extinct as a result of the drought of 1902 until it was rediscovered in 19181. The last confirmed record was in 19273 and, although Kiernan claims to have seen five birds in 19906, the species is considered extinct2.
|
Ecology: It inhabited open savanna woodland and shrubby grassland. It fed on native grass seeds and nested in termite mounds.
|
Threats Its decline was probably caused by a reduction of its food supply due to drought, overgrazing, altered fire frequencies and the spread of prickly pears5, with disease, trapping and egg-collecting4, predation of nests by introduced and native species1 and clearance of eucalypts by ringbarking6 also contributing.
|
| Conservation measures underway Still listed in Appendix I of CITES.
|
References 1. Chisholm (1922). 2. Collar et al. (1994). 3. Forshaw and Cooper (1989). 4. Garnett (1992). 5. Joseph (1988). 6. Kiernan (1993).
|
Text account compilers Tom Brooks (Conservation International), Simon Mahood (BirdLife International) |
IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Tom Brooks (Conservation International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Alison Stattersfield (BirdLife International) |
| Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Psephotus pulcherrimus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/2/2010 |
This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List. To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums |
