Guadeloupe Parakeet (Psittacara labati)
Posted on 31 December, 1800 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1800
Comments:
This species formerly occurred on Guadeloupe. It is thought to have been driven Extinct by hunting during the second half of the 18th century.
Habitat:
Nothing is known, although it is likely to have nested in tree holes in forest and foraged over a wide area for fruit and seeds.
Causes:
Hunting is likely to have led to its extinction.
Distribution:
Psittacara labati is not known from any specimens, but was well described by Labat in 1724 from Guadeloupe (to France) (Clark 1905a, b). Little is known of the species (Marien and Koopman 1955), but it must have declined to extinction in the second half of the 18th century. A suggestion that parakeets on Guadeloupe may have been escaped Cuban Parakeet Psittacara euops (Forshaw and Cooper 1989) is unlikely because the birds were not noted to have any red in the wing (Marien and Koopman 1955), unlike P. euops (Forshaw and Cooper 1989).