Aythya sp. nov. 'Réunion'
Réunion pochard, Mascarene Islands pochard
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Aythya cf. innotata?; Aythya sp. Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1999:20
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Holocene (1687? 1710?)
Subfossil material was reported by (Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1999:20) which belongs to an undescribed [i]Aythya[/i] species. Only two possible historical records of this species exist, in both instances an ambiguous mention of 'ducks and teal' on Réunion in 1687 and 1710 respectively (Bernardin, 1687; Boucher, 1710). Hume & Walters (2012:51) were only aware of the 1710 report by Boucher, in contrast to the two different reports mentioned by (Hume, 2013:208).
Distribution
Réunion, Mascarene Islands
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Bernardin, P. (1687). Mémoire du R.P.Bernardin sur I’lle de Bourbon (1687). In: Lougnon, A. (ed). Receuil trimestriel de documents et travaux inédits pour servir à l’histoire des Mascareignes françaises, 4: 57-70 (1939).
Boucher, A. (1710). Mémoire d’Antoine Boucher sur I’lle Bourbon en 1710. – In: Lougnon, A. (ed). Receuil trimestriel de documents et travaux inédits pour servir à l’histoire des Mascareignes françaises, 5: 279-355 (1941).
Hume, Julian Pender. (2013). A synopsis of the pre-human avifauna of the Mascarene Islands, pp. 195-237. In: Göhlich, U.B. & Kroh, A. (eds.). Proceedings of the 8th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution. Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien.
Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser.
Mourer-Chauviré, C., Bour, R., Ribes, S. & Moutou, F. (1999). The Avifauna of Réunion Island (Mascarene Islands) at the time of the arrival of the first Europeans. – In: Olson, S. (ed): Avian Paleontology at the Close of the 20th Century: Proceedings of the 4th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, Washington, D.C., 4-7 June 1996. – Smithsonian contributions to paleobiology, 89: 1-38.
Sayol, Ferran, Steinbauer, Manuel J., Blackburn, Tim M., Antonelli, Alexandre and Faurby, Søren. (2020). Anthropogenic extinctions conceal widespread evolution of flightlessness in birds. Science Advances 6(49): eabb6095. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6095 [Supplementary Material (Data File S1)]