• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2023	Extinct
2016	Extinct
2012	Extinct
2010	Extinct
2009	Critically Endangered	D1
2008	Critically Endangered
2004	Critically Endangered
2000	Critically Endangered
1996	Critically Endangered
1994	Critically Endangered
1988	Threatened

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type	shelf island	Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend		-	-	-
Generation length	4.15 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The species was described in 1932 from Lake Alaotra (Delacour 1932) and in 1960 grebe flocks on the lake contained c. 50 individuals alongside Little Grebe T. ruficollis and Madagascar Little Grebe T. pelzelnii, but also a number of hybrids with T. ruficollis (Voous and Payne 1965, Collar and Stuart 1985). Thirteen specimens were collected at this time (Voous and Payne 1965), presumably out of the total of 50 (Hawkins et al. 2000). Numerous other reports from a wider area are given in Collar and Stuart (1985), but none were documented and were subsequently considered to be in error for T. pelzelnii. In 1982 c. 12 individuals were identified as still present, along with several hybrids (Hawkins et al. 2000). Two or three individuals were then recorded in 1985 near Andreba on Lake Alaotra, when the only known photographs of the species in the wild was taken (Hawkins et al. 2000, P. Thompson. in litt. 2022). There have been no further confirmed sightings despite considerable survey effort (Hawkins et al. 2000). The sighting series for the species has been used in the development of models to determine extinction probability using both linear modelling and Bayesian approaches (Lee et al. 2014, Thompson et al. 2017, 2019): these all conclude the species became extinct prior to 1995. Separately, an assessment of the likely impact of the combination of threats faced by the species concluded that the severity and extent indicated a 90% probability of extinction for the species (Keith et al. 2017).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Madagascar	extinct	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Madagascar	Lake Alaotra NPA

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	major	resident
Altitude	750 - 750 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Scale Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Biological resource use	Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Negligible declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Channa striata	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Very Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Eichhornia crassipes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Micropterus salmoides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Named species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Unspecified species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Competition
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Tachybaptus ruficollis	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Hybridisation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Soil erosion, sedimentation	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Alaotra Grebe Tachybaptus rufolavatus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/alaotra-grebe-tachybaptus-rufolavatus on 27/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 27/12/2024.