Species

Justification
This species was known from Jamaica, but it is now Extinct as a result of hunting pressure. The last specimen was taken in 1765 and it is thought to have been lost towards the end of the 18th century.

Taxonomic source(s)
Brooks, T. 2000. Extinct species. In: BirdLife International (ed.), Threatened birds of the world, pp. 701-708. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona and Cambridge, U.K.

Taxonomic note
A number of authors have suggested that this taxon was conspecific with Cuban Macaw A. tricolor (Clark 1905), and it has even been suggested to have been based on a "tapiré" artifactual specimen (Wetherbee, 1985).

Distribution and population
Ara gossei is known only from the work of Gosse in 1847 based on "specimen shot about 1765, by Mr Odell" in the mountains of Hanover Parish, about 10 miles east of Lucea, Jamaica (Rothschild 1905).

Ecology
Nothing is known, although it is likely to have been typical of the genus.

Threats
It was presumably hunted to extinction around the end of the 18th century.

References
Clark, A. H. 1905. The Greater Antillean macaws. The Auk 22: 345-348.

Rothschild, W. 1905. Notes on extinct parrots from the West Indies. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 16: 13-15.

Wetherbee, D. K. 1985. The extinct Cuban and Hispaniolan Macaws (Ara: Psittacidae), and description of a new species Ara cubensis. Caribbean Journal of Science 21: 169-175.

Text account compilers
Brooks, T., Mahood, S.

IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Ara gossei. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/05/2013.

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.

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