Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, Mauritius, but is now Extinct, probably due to a combination of habitat loss and invasive species. The last records date from 1726.
Population justification
No extant population remains.
Trend justification
Almost nothing is known about the cause of extinction for this species. Habitat destruction and predation by introduced mammals likely played a role in its extinction. The species apparently only occurred on the surrounded islets of Rodrigues (based on observations from a manuscript by Julien Tafforet translated in Hume 2014), and so would have been very vulnerable to stochastic events. It also apparently fed predominantly on the eggs of nesting seabirds, so perhaps faced competition from introduced rats. The records by Tafforet from Ile du Mât in 1726 constitute the last records of the species (Cheke 1987).
Necropsar rodericanus is known only from bones from Rodrigues, Mauritius (Cowles 1987), which are presumably referable to the birds "Testudophaga bicolor" (Rothschild 1907) described by Tafforet from Ile du Mât in 1726.
Nothing is known, although a travellers account suggests the species only occupied the surrounding islets (to avoid birds of prey on the mainland), and fed only on the eggs of nesting seabirds and deceased turtles (based on observations from a manuscript by Julien Tafforet translated in Hume 2014).
The reason for this species' extinction is unknown (Cheke 1987), but habitat destruction and predation by introduced mammals likely played a role in its extinction. The species apparently only occurred on the surrounded islets of Rodrigues (based on observations from a manuscript by Julien Tafforet translated in Hume 2014), and so would have been very vulnerable to stochastic events. It also apparently fed predominantly on the eggs of nesting seabirds, so perhaps faced competition from introduced rats.
Text account compilers
Mahood, S., Brooks, T., Richardson, L., Khwaja, N.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Rodrigues Starling Necropsar rodericanus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/rodrigues-starling-necropsar-rodericanus on 03/12/2024.
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 03/12/2024.