This species was described in 1867 based on subfossil remains that were recovered from deposits on the island of Rodrigues, Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
The species was a member of a rather large radiation of parrots of which today only a single species, the Echo Parakeet (Psittacula eques ssp. echo (Newton & Newton)), is surviving on the island of Mauritius.
There is also a somewhat detailed description of the bird in life, made by a man named Tafforet in 1725.:
“The largest are larger than a pigeon, and have a tail very long, the head large as well as the beak. They mostly come on the islets which are to the south of the island, where they eat a small black seed, which produces a small shrub whose leaves have the smell of the orange tree, and come to the mainland to drink water … they have their plumage green.” [1]
*********************
References:
[1] Julian Pender Hume: Reappraisal of the parrots (Aves: Psittacidae) from the Mascarene Islands, with comments on their ecology, morphology, and affinities. Zootaxa 1513: 1-76. 2007
*********************
edited: 10.08.2022