| 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 Holyoak, 1973 Taxonomic source(s) Brooks (2000) |
Summary Lophopsittacus bensoni was described from a lower mandible, palatine and tarsometatarsus found in caves near Port Louis, Mauritius2, and was almost certainly the small grey parrot described by numerous early writers1. In 1764, Cossigny noted that "the woods are full of parrots, either completely grey or completely green. One used to eat them a lot formerly, the grey especially"1, but this was the last mention of the species, and presumably it subsequently declined rapidly to extinction. There are also a number of reports of small grey parrots from Réunion which probably refer to this or a closely related species1.
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Ecology: It inhabited the forest.
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Threats It was widely eaten and is likely to have become extinct through overhunting.
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References 1. Cheke (1987). 2. Holyoak (1973).
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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: Lophopsittacus bensoni. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010 |
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 |
