The Society Parakeet is an extinct parakeet

Parakeet

Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...

 of the genus Cyanoramphus

Cyanoramphus

Cyanoramphus is a genus of parakeets native to New Zealand and islands of the southern Pacific Ocean. The New Zealand forms are often referred to as kākāriki. They are small to medium sized parakeets with long tails and predominately green plumage. Most species are forest species, although several...

.

Description

It reached a length of 25 cm. Its head was chocolate brown. The bill showed a pale bluish grey hue and had a black tip. The back and the wings were coloured brown. The lower back and the tail exhibited a rufous brown colouring. The underwing coverts and the outer webs were greyish purple. The breast, the abdomen, and the undertail coverts were ochre yellow. The mid rectrices were olive brown and outer rectrices bueish grey. The feet were greyish brown, the eyes orange.

Distribution

It was only known from Raiatea

Raiatea

Raiatea , is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. The island is widely regarded as the 'center' of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the organised migrations to Hawaii, Aotearoa and other parts of East Polynesia started at...

 (Society Islands

Society Islands

The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...

). Its habitat was probably woodland.

Extinction

There are only two museum specimens which are known to exist of the Society Parakeet. The date of their origin was controversially discussed. Erwin Stresemann

Erwin Stresemann

Erwin Stresemann was a German naturalist and ornithologist.Stresemann was one of the outstanding ornithologists of the 20th century...

 (1950) and James Greenway

James Greenway

James Cowan Greenway was an American ornithologist. An eccentric, shy and sometimes reclusive man, his survey of extinct and vanishing birds provided the base for much subsequent work on bird conservation.-Early years:...

 (1958) were talking about 1773 or 1774, but in 1979 the ornithologist David G. Medway from New Zealand proceed on the assumption that the two specimens were taken in November 1777 during the third circumnavigation by James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

. He undergird this expectation with the travel diary entries by Joseph Banks

Joseph Banks

Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...

. Today these museum specimens can be seen in the Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and in the Naturhistorisches Museum

Naturhistorisches Museum

The Naturhistorisches Museum Wien or NHMW is a large museum located in Vienna, Austria.The collections displayed cover , and the museum has a website providing an overview as a video virtual tour....

, Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. The reasons of its extinction remained unknown. It is assumed that deforestation and invasive species like rats might have played a role. It must have become extinct shortly after its discovery.

External links

• Lexicon of Parrots - Cyanoramphus ulietanus (Engl.)
• Description (French)