Genus Necropsittacus

Necropsittacus rodericanus - The Rodrigues Parrot is an extinct species of parrot which once lived on the Mascarene island of Rodrigues. It is known from subfossil bones and the 1708 description of Leguat as well as the 1726 report of Julien Tafforet. The birds were described as generally of green coloration, with a large head and beak and a long tail, and being in size markedly larger than a pigeon, or considerably so than the local parakeet. The fossils, which include a partial skull, prove that the bird had a bill adapted to cracking the hardest seeds, convergent with South American Ara macaws. Tafforet speaks of their habits in some detail: At his time , the birds stayed mostly on the Islet au Mât south of mainland Rodriguez. They were observed feeding on the small, black and hard seeds or fruit of a tree with leaves having a strong citrus smell. Fresh water was obtained on the mainland.