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

Taxonomic note
Porphyrio caerulescens (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously listed as P. coerulescens.

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.
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
D	D	D1

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Extinct
2016	Extinct
2014	Extinct
2012	Extinct
2008	Extinct
2004	Extinct
2000	Extinct
1994	Extinct
1988	Extinct

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	0 mature individuals	good	estimated	-
Population trend		-	-	-
Generation length	3.41 years	-	-	-

Population justification: No extant population remains.

Trend justification: This species is known only from travellers accounts (Hume 2017). The first description of the species was in 1671-72 (Dubois 1674), and was observed into the 1700s (Le Gentil 1727). Historical accounts suggest the species was easy to hunt, and the species likely went extinct in the 18th century as a result of over-hunting, with the introduction of rats in 1676 (Cheke and Hume 2008) also contributing to its decline (Hume 2017).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Réunion (to France)	extinct	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Altitude	1500 - 0 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus rattus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Unknown		Unknown		Past Impact
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Reunion Gallinule Porphyrio caerulescens. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/reunion-gallinule-porphyrio-caerulescens on 26/12/2024.
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 26/12/2024.