The Amsterdam Island Duck, aka. Amsterdam Wigeon was described in 1996 based on subfossil bones that were found on the Île Amsterdam in the subantarctic part of the Indian Ocean.
This duck species was rather small and apparently completely flightless.
There is also a contemporaneous account that mentions this duck species and that is often falsely assigned to a population of ducks on another island, the Île Saint-Paul, which lies about 80 km away from Île Amsterdam. :
“Anas, A small brown Duck, not much larger than a thrush, and apparently not described by naturalists.” [1]
If this account is read carefully, however, it is very clear that it is speaking about the ducks found on Amsterdam Island.
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References:
[1] John Barrow: A voyage to Cochinchina, in the years 1792 and 1793. To which is annexed an account of a journey made in the years 1801 and 1802, to the residence of the chief of the Booshuana nation. London: printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies 1806
[2] Storrs L. Olson; Pierre Jouventin: A new species of small flightless duck from Amsterdam Island, southern Indian Ocean (Anatidae: Anas). The Condor 98(1): 1-9. 1996
The Forest Thrush (Turdus lherminieri (Lafresnaye)) inhabits, respectively inhabited some of the islands of the Lesser Antilles, where it is known from Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Montserrat as well as from Saint Lucia.
The species is, however, not known from Martinique, which is located between Dominica and Saint Lucia, but almost for sure did once occur there as well and probably did so with an endemic subspecies; yet currently there is no proof so far for that assumption, thus I will only briefly mention this assumption here.
This species is known from subfossil remains that were recovered from archaeological sites on the small island of La Desirade off the northeast coast of Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles.
The remains were dated to about 600 to 1400 AD.. [1][2]
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References:
[1] S. T. Turvey: Holocene Extinctions. Oxford University Press, USA 2009
[2] Myriam Boudadi-Maligne; Salvador Bailon; Corentin Bochaton; Fabrice Casagrande; Sandrine Grouard; Nathalie Serrand; Arnaud Lenoble: Evidence for historical human-induced extinctions of vertebrate specieson La Désirade (French West Indies). Quaternary Research 85: 54-65. 2016
The St. Martin Rice Rat is known from subfossil remains that were recovered from an archaeological site named Hope Estate on the island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles.
The species survived into the Holocene, most likely even well into the 19th century. [1]
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References:
[1] Elizabeth Reitz; C. Margaret Scarry; Sylvia J. Scudder: Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology). Springer; Second Edition 2007
This species was described in 1909, it was endemic to the island of St. Martin, where it apparently was restricted to littoral habitats at the Guana Bay in the southeastern part of the island.
The species is known from a single collection and was never found again, it is now considered extinct.
The Reunion Scops Owl was restricted to the island of Réunion in the Mascarene Islands; it was described in 1994 and is known exclusively from subfossil remains.
The species has not been mentioned in any of the many contemporary reports; thus it is believed that it died out very shortly after the arrival of the first human settlers on the island.
This undescribed form, which may or may not be related to or even conspecific with the Barbuda Curly-tailed Lizard (Leiocephalus cuneus Etheridge) is known from subfossil remains of Latest Holocene age found in 1984 in an unnamed cave at Pointe du Capucin at the northern shore of the island of Basse Terre in the Guadeloupe archipelago.
The Guadeloupe Curly-tailed Lizard survived into historical times, the remains have not yet been dated but were found associated with the bones of rats, which were introduced to the Caribbean only in the 15th century. [1]
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References:
[1] Gregory K. Pregill: Systematics of the West Indian Lizard Genus Leiocephalus (Squamata: Iguania: Tropiduridae). Miscellaneous Publications of the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas 84: 1-69. 1992
The Keeled Lantzia Snail was described in 1872; it is (or probably was) restricted to a single locality on the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
The species inhabited wet moss that grew along a waterfall in the interior of the island at an elevation of 1200 to 1300 m above sea level.
The Keeled Lantzia Snail was thought to have gone extinct sometimes during the early 19th century but was rediscovered in 199; however, it seems to have disappeared again and is now most likely indeed extinct.
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Depiction from: ‘F. P. Jousseaume: Description de quatre mollusques nouveaux. Revue et magasin de zoologie pure et appliquée, series 2(23): 5-15. 1872’
Arnold’s Skink was described in 2008 based on subfossil remains that had been recovered from deposits of the Grotte au Sable in Saint-Paul, the second-largest commune of Réunion.
The species was closely related to Telfair-Skink (Leiolopisma telfairii (Desjardins)) (see photo below) from Mauritius, but was even larger; in life, this species must have had a size of over 40 cm (including the tail).
In contrast to many other animals that formerly inhabited the Mascarene islands, no written accounts exist that could be assigned to this species. [1]
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References:
[1] E. Nicholas Arnold; Roger Bour: A new Nactus gecko (Gekkonidae) and a new Leiolopisma skin (Scincidae) from La Réunion, Indian Ocean, based on recent fossil remains and ancient DNA sequence. Zootaxa 1705: 40-50. 2008
[2] Anthony Cheke; Julian P. Hume: Lost Land of the Dodo: The ecological history of Mauritius, Réunion, and Redrigues. Yale University Press 2008
This species was described in 1907, it is known from at least one contemporaneous account and from subfossil bones.
The species was somewhat similar to the Mauritius Pink Pigeon (Nesoenas mayeri (Prevost)) (see photo below) that is still found on the island of Mauritius.
The Reunion Slit-eyed Skink was endemic to La Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
The species was last collected in 1839, its extinction is attributed to the Wolf Snake (Lycodon capucinus F. Boie), a small, mildly venomous snake from South Asia specialized in hunting small reptiles, that was accidently introduced to the Mascarene Islands in the middle of the 19th century. [1]
The Reunion Slit-eyed Skink’s next living relative is Bojer’s Skink (Gongylomorphus bojerii (Desjardins)) (see photo below), which is restricted to the island of Mauritius.
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References:
[1] Anthony Cheke; Julian P. Hume: Lost Land of the Dodo: The ecological history of Mauritius, Réunion, and Redrigues. Yale University Press 2008
This species is up to now undescribed, it is known from subfossil remains that had been found on the island of Marie Galante offshore Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles. [1]
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References:
[1] Alexandra van der Geer; George Lyras; John de Vos; Michael Dermitzakis: Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. Wiley-Blackwell 2010
Guadeloupe House Wren (Troglodytes aedon ssp. guadeloupensis)
This form, described in 1886, occurred on the islands of Basse Terre and Grande Terre, Guadeloupe.
The Guadeloupe House Wren reached a length of about 11,5 cm, it was quite like the Grenada House Wren (Troglodytes aedon ssp. grenadensis (Lawrence)) (see photo) or the Martinique House Wren (Troglodytes aedon ssp. martinicensis (Sclater)), differing by its shorter wings.
The form was last recorded during field observations from 25 May through 1 June of the year 1973.:
“At 10:30 while standing at the beginning of the trail at the end of the raod a wren sang a few meters down slope then flew to a perch in bright sunlight. We observed it with 7 x 50 binoculars for 1 min at a distance of 10 m, recognizing it as a Guadaloupe House Wren before it flew into dense brush.” [2]
During these field observations at least five birds where seen, including at least four singing males.
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References:
[1] Charles B. Cory: Descriptions of new species of birds from the West Indies. The Auk 3(3): 381-382. 1886 [2] John C. Barlow: Another colony of the Guadeloupe House Wren. Wilson Bulletin 90(4): 635-637. 1978 [3] Dieter Luther: Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt. Westarp Wissenschaften 1986
This form, which hitherto has not been described, is known from subfossil material that was found on the island of Guadelopue in the Lesser Antilles. [1]
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References:
[1] Alexandra van der Geer; George Lyras; John de Vos; Michael Dermitzakis: Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. Wiley-Blackwell 2010
The Martinique Amazon is known from several eyewitness accounts and at least a single, yet brief description.
The species was very closely related to the still existing Red-necked Amazon (Amazona arausiaca (Statius Müller)) from Dominica and the Saint Lucia Amazon (Amazona versicolor (Statius Müller)) from Saint Lucia and formed a superspecies together with them.
***
The Martinique Amazon appears to have been incredible common, and the early European settlers saw it only as a pest, so did mention it but did never give any description of it, for example:
Jean-Baptiste Labat, a French glergyman, who was the appointed procurator-general of all the Dominican convents in the Antilles, is the only one who gave at least a brief description of this species in which he mentioned that it was very much identical to the Red-necked Amazon yet differed from it in that its head feathers were rather slate than blue and in that it had less red feathers in its plumage.
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References:
[1] Jean-Baptiste Labat: Nouveau voyage aux isles de l’Amerique: contenant l’histoire naturelle de ces pays, l’origine, les moeurs, la religion & le gouvernement des habitans anciens & modernes: Les guerres & les evenemens singuliers qui y sont arrivez pendant le séjour que l’auteur y a fait. A Paris, au palais: Chez Theodore le Gras 1742 [2] Charles A. Woods; Florence E. Sergile: Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives, Second Edition. CRC Press; Auflage: Subsequent 2001
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Depiction from: ‘Lionel Walter Rothschild: Extinct birds: an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times: that is, within the last six or seven hundred years: to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction. London: Hutchinson & Co. 1907’
Argoud’s Gulella Snail was described in 2000, it is known only from subfossil remains recovered from a depth of about 10 cm in dry soil under basaltic rocks on the edge of a ravine near La Saline Les Bains on the island of Réunion, Mascarene Islands.
The shells reached sizes of about 0,37 cm in heigth. [1]
***
The species is most likely extinct, however, the author while describing it, mentions the following.:
“Although described from subfossil specimens, the presence of a Gulella shell fragment (possibly belonging to this species) collected in leaflitter at Cap Noire, Dos-d’Ane Réunion, at 1300m, in 1992, suggests thius species may still survive.” [1]
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References:
[1] Owen Lee Griffiths: Nine new species of Mascarene land snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Molluscan Research 20(2): 37-50. 2000
Martinique House Wren (Troglodytes aedon ssp. martinicensis)
This bird was described in the year 1866, it was restricted to the island of Martinique, where it inhabited the native rain forests.
The Martinique House Wren was last seen in 1886, having been exterminated by introduced rats and feral cats.
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References:
[1] Charles B. Cory: Descriptions of new species of birds from the West Indies. The Auk 3(3): 381-382. 1886 [2] John C. Barlow: Another colony of the Guadeloupe House Wren. Wilson Bulletin 90(4): 635-637. 1978
[3] Dieter Luther: Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt. Westarp Wissenschaften 1986
The Martinique Giant Ameiva was described in 1839; it is known exclusively from museum specimens, whose origins appear to be unknown, they may have come from the island of Martinique or from the so-called Les Iles de la petite Terre, offshore Guadeloupe.
The species disappeared most likely due to predation by introduced mammalian predators.
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Depiction from: ‘C. Duméril; Gabriel Bibron: Erpétologie générale, ou, Histoire naturelle complète des reptiles. Paris: Roret 1834-1854’
The Echo Parakeet (Alexandrinus eques ssp. echo (Newton & Newton)), endemic to the island of Mauritius, was once already extinct, but a breeding program saved the species at the last minute, it is now the sole surviving form of the formerly large Mascarene parrot radiation.
This parakeet was originally described as a distinct species, but is now considered to represent a subspecies of a species that inhabited the neighboring island of Réunion.
This form, the Reunion Echo Parakeet or Reunion Ring-necked Parakeet was described in 1783, it is now, however, only known from contemporary depictions and probably a single stuffed specimen that lacks its tail feathers.
The Reunion Echo Parakeet obviously disappeared shortly after the occupation of the island by European settlers at the beginning of the 18th century.
***
The two island forms are almost indistinguishable and may in fact not be separable from each other.
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References:
[1] M. P. Braun; N. Bahr; M. Wink: Phylogenie und Taxonomie der Edelsittiche (Psittaciformes: Psittaculidae: Psittacula), mit Beschreibung von drei neuen Gattungen. Vogelwarte 54: 322-324. 2016
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Depiction from: ‘François-Nicolas Martinet; Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon; Edme-Louis Daubenton; Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton: Planches enluminées d’histoire naturelle. Paris: s.n. 1765-1783’
The Reunion Night Gecko was described in 2008 based on subfossil remains that were recovered from deposits of the Grotte au Sable in Saint-Paul, the second-largest commune of Réunion.
In life, the species might have reached a size of around 9 cm (including the tail); it was nocturnal and very likely rather inconspicuously colored. [1]
The Reunion Night Gecko was among the first species that died out shortly after the Mascarene Islands were discovered by European seafarers in the early 16th century, who also introduced rats to the islands, which then ate their way through the island faunas. [2]
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References:
[1] E. Nicholas Arnold; Roger Bour: A new Nactus gecko (Gekkonidae) and a new Leiolopisma skin (Scincidae) from La Réunion, Indian Ocean, based on recent fossil remains and ancient DNA sequence. Zootaxa 1705: 40-50. 2008
[2] Anthony Cheke; Julian P. Hume: Lost Land of the Dodo: The ecological history of Mauritius, Réunion, and Redrigues. Yale University Press 2008
The small, shrubby Sint Maarten-Myrtle was described in 1909, it is known only by the type material which was collected somewhere in the Dutch southern part of the island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin.
The species was not found again since, it is very likely extinct.
It’s a fact that parakeets of the genus Psittacara (formerly included in the genus Aratinga) inhabit the islands of the Greater Antilles, where several species still occur on the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico; at least one additional subfossil form is known from the island of Barbuda in the Lesser Antilles, which makes it likely that others were once distributed on the islands inbetween.
Again, some other forms are known from accounts only, and some of these accounts are rather scanty and unfortunately sometimes not very trustworthy.
***
The Martinique Conure, however, is known from the description given by M.-J. Brisson in 1760, which again, apparently refers to a description and depiction by George Edwards from 1751 (see below).
G. Edwards in his description just writes:
“… My Friend for whom I made the Draught, told me, the Bird was brought from the West-Indies. …” [1]
And then, M.-J. Brisson states:
“Habitat in Martinique & variis Americae regionibus“
translation:
“Lives in Martinique and various American regions“
***
The bird depicted here is a Brown-throated Parakeet (Eupsittula pertinax (L.)), which occurs naturally with about 14 subspecies in northern South America as well as on many of the small islands off the northern coast of Venezuela, but cannot be assigned to any of the known subspecies without any doubt whatsoever.
There is now the possibility that this species was once much more widespread and might indeed have inhabited some of the islands of the Lesser Antilles, but I personally think that the parakeet depicted here was just caught somewhere on the South American mainland and was then brought to the West Indies from where again it was purchased by the person in whose possession it was when G. Edwards described and drew it.
If the island of Martinique ever harbored an endemic species of parakeet it probably was more closely realted to the more or less plain green (with a little red) species from the genus Psittacara known from subfossil remains from Barbuda, and found still being alive in the Greater Antilles.
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References:
[1] George Edwards: A natural history of uncommon birds: and of some other rare and undescribed animals, quadrupedes, fishes, reptiles, insects, &, exhibited in two hundred and ten copper-plates, from designs copied immediately from nature, and curiously coloured after life, with a full and accurate description of each figure, to which is added A brief and general idea of drawing and painting in water-colours; with instructions for etching on copper with aqua fortis; likewise some thoughts on the passage of birds; and additions to many subjects described in this work. London: printed for the author, at the College of Physicians in Warwick-Lane 1743-1751 [2] Mathurin-Jaques Brisson: Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés: a laquelle on a joint une description exacte de chaque espece, avec les citations des auteurs qui en ont traité, les noms quils leur ont donnés, ceux que leur ont donnés les différentes nations, & les noms vulgaires. Parisiis: Ad Ripam Augustinorum, apud Cl. Joannem-Baptistam Bauche, bibliopolam, ad Insigne S. Genovesae, & S. Joannis in Deserto 1760
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Depiction from: ‘George Edwards: A natural history of uncommon birds: and of some other rare and undescribed animals, quadrupedes, fishes, reptiles, insects, &, exhibited in two hundred and ten copper-plates, from designs copied immediately from nature, and curiously coloured after life, with a full and accurate description of each figure, to which is added A brief and general idea of drawing and painting in water-colours; with instructions for etching on copper with aqua fortis; likewise some thoughts on the passage of birds; and additions to many subjects described in this work. London: printed for the author, at the College of Physicians in Warwick-Lane 1743-1751’
The Mayotte Gulella Snail was described in 1885, it was endemic to the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.
***
The species is commonly referred to as being extinct, however, given the fact that all other molluscan species on the island of Mayotte appear to be still alive, I personally do not know why this particular species should be extinct.
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Depiction from: ‘A. Morelet: Malacologie des Comores. Récolte de M. Humblot a la Grande Comore. Journal de Conchyliologie 33: 288-301. 1885’
The Mascarene Freshwater Prawn was described in 1811, the species was apparently endemic to the islands of Mauritius and Réunion, Mascarene Islands, where it is known to have inhabited several rivers.
The species was last recorded in the 1980s on Réuinion and was not found in later surveys, so is now either extremely rare or may already be extinct. [1][2]
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References:
[1] P. Keith; E. Vigneux: First capture of Macrobrachium lepidactylus (Hilgendorf, 1879) (Palaemonidae) on Réunion Island, followed by a commentary on Macrobrachium hirtimanus (Olivier, 1811). Crustaceana 73(2): 215-222. 2000 [2] P. Keith: Freshwater fish and decapod crustacean populations on Réunion Island, with an assessmemnt of species introductions. Bulletin Français de la Pêche et de la Pisciculture. 364: 97-107. 2002
Guadeloupe Land Snail (Amphicyclotulus guadeloupensis)
The Guadeloupe Land Snail was described in 1942, it was endemic to the island of Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles.
The shells reached sizes of about 1,28 cm in heigth and about 1,76 cm in diameter. [1]
***
There seems not to be much known about this species.
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References:
[1] Carlos de la Torre; Paul Bartsch; Joseph P. E. Morrison: The cyclophorid operculate land mollusks of America. Washington, United States Govt. Print. Off. 1942
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Photo from: ‘Carlos de la Torre; Paul Bartsch; Joseph P. E. Morrison: The cyclophorid operculate land mollusks of America. Washington, United States Govt. Print. Off. 1942’
The Reunion Giant Tortoise was described in 1783, it was endemic to the island of Réunion, Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean, where it formerly was extremely numerous, forming large herds.
The species was the largest within its genus, with carapace lenghts of 0,5 to 1,1 m.
There appear to have been both dome-shaped as well as saddle-shaped individuals in this species and they may in fact constitute two distinct species, as it is the case on the two neigboring islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, which each harbored two endemic tortoise species once.
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The tortoises were killed by the first European settlers but also caught in vast numbers by sailors to be stacked into the holds of their ships, where they, simply being turned on their backs condemned to die a horrible slow death, provided a source of fresh meat for months.
The species disappeared at the beginning of the 18th century with the last remaining individuals surviving in hidden spots on the highlands until around 1840.
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Depiction from: Joannis Davidis Schoepff: Historia testudinum iconibus illustrata. Erlangae: J. J. Palm 1792-1801
The Guadeloupe Macaw aka. Lesser Antillean Macaw is the best presented Caribbean macaw species, regarding contemporaneous accounts.
The first of these accounts dates from 1553, comes from the Spanish historian Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés and is itself referring to another account from 1496, made by Fernando Colón (Ferdinand Columbus), a Spanish bibliographer and the second son of Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus), who again mentions chicken-sized parrots, which the Island Caribs called Guacamayas, in Guadeloupe. [2]
There are very detailed accounts made by Jean Baptiste Du Tetre in 1667, who not only describes the bird in detail but also gives some information about its life and the way it was hunted by the natives and so on. [1][2]
***
A subfossil terminal phalanx, found in late Pleistocene cave deposits on the island of Marie-Galante, a small island offshore the east coast of Basse Terre and Grande Terre, Guadeloupe, has been assigned to a Ara sp., another skeletal remain; a single subfossil ulna recovered from an archaeological site on the same small island is also assignable to a Ara sp.. These two remains are the only evidence for the former presense of a macaw species on the Guadeloupe archipelago. [3][4]
***
The St. Croix Macaw (Ara autochthones Wetmore), which is known from several subfossil remains, as well as the undescribed Montserrat Macaw (Ara sp.) known from subfossil remains from the island of Montserrat, might be identical with this species.
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References: [1] J. B. Du Tetre: Histoire Générale des Antilles Habitées par les François. Paris: T. Lolly 1667 [2] Austin H. Clark: The Lesser Antillean Macaws. The Auk 22(3): 266-273. 1905 [3] Charles A. Woods; Florence E. Sergile: Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives, Second Edition. CRC Press; Auflage: Subsequent 2001 [4] Monica Gala; Arnaud Lenoble: Evidence of the former existence of an endemic macaw in Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles. Journal of Ornithology 156(4): 1061–1066. 2015
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Depiction from: ‘Georges-Louis Leclerc: Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi. A Paris: De l’Imprimerie royale 1749-1803’
