Solomon Islands Eclectus Parrot (Eclectus infectus)

Year Last Seen:

1793

Comments:

This species may have survived as recently as the late 18th century, but became Extinct most likely as a result of over-hunting and predation by invasive mammals.

Habitat:

Nothing directly relating to the habits of this lost species is known.

Causes:

This species was presumably driven to extinction by overhunting and predation from introduced mammals (Hume 2017).

Distribution:

Eclectus infectus was described by D. W. Steadman (2006a) from bones found at archaeological (late Holocene) and paleontological (late Pleistocene) sites on three islands in Tonga, and presumably relates to a drawing of a parrot from the Malaspina expedition to Vava’u, Tonga in 1793 (Steadman 2006b, Olson 2006), soon after which time it presumably became extinct. It may possibly have also occurred on Vanuatu and Fiji (Hume and Walters 2012).

References:

IUCN Redbook Data