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

Taxonomic note
Palaeornis wardi (Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International 2020) was previously listed as Psittacula wardi (del Hoyo et al. 2014). Braun et al. (2019) report the situation where the parrot genera Psittinus, Tanygnathus and Mascarinus nest genetically within Psittacula, meaning that either Psittacula replaces these latter three genera or it breaks down into monophyletic genera of their own. The latter course is preferred, building on Braun et al. (2016), where several genera were established or resurrected including Palaeornis for P. eupatria and P. wardi.

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.
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2020. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 5. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
D	D	D1

Red List history

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

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	low
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	9.07 years	-	-	-

Population justification: None remain.

Trend justification: The species was considered abundant in 1811 (Prior 1820), but was considered 'practically exterminated' in 1866 due to widespread deforestation for cocoa-nut plantations, and the persecution of the species due to its preference for maize (Newton 1867). The birds were apparently still present in 1870 when skins were sent to Cambridge, with further skins collected in 1881 (Hume 2017). The last record of the species was of a bird shot in March 1893 (Skerret et al. 2001). The species was not seen 1906 (Nicoll 1908) nor during a visit to the Seychelles by Vesey-Fitzgerald between 1931 and 1936 (Hume 2017). Therefore, it appears unlikely that the species persisted into the 20th century, with deforestation and persecution the likely causes of its extinction.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Altitude		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		Unknown		Unknown		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Unknown		Unknown		Past Impact
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Unknown		Unknown		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Seychelles Parakeet Palaeornis wardi. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/seychelles-parakeet-palaeornis-wardi on 22/11/2024.
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 22/11/2024.