Porphyrio coerulescens (Réunion Swamphen)

[sebbe67]

Réunion Gallinule Porphyrio coerulescens was endemic to Réunion (to France) from where it was described as oiseau bleu by six early travelers. It was probably not flightless, but was nevertheless easily hunted, presumably leading to its extinction by around 1730. Taxonomy Livezey considers this taxon conspecific with Purple Swamphen P. porphyrio, but Cheke points out that the montane forest habitat (the Plaine des Cafres) reported for the species by most of the early writers would be atypical for P. porphyrio.

[another specialist]

piclib.nhm.ac.uk/piclib/www/image.php?img=91810&cat=4&frm=ser&search=cat_4

[Deleted]

extinctanimals.proboards22.com/index.cgi?board=gruiformes&action=display&thread=1118037380

[another specialist]

thanks noisi i knew i started a thread somewhere lol ;D

moved all info over here now - so other thread doesn't exist

[another specialist]

Porphyrio caerulescens
(Sélys-Longchamps) 1848
Quaternary of Réunion, w Mascarene Islands, wc Indian Ocean
Primary materials: Only known from historic reports

Storrs L. Olson,
A synopsis on the fossil Rallidae
In Rails of the world: A monograph of the family Rallidae by S.D. Ripley, Codline, Boston (1977): 509-525

[another specialist]

2005 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN): Extinct


Family/Sub-family RALLIDAE

Species name author (Sélys-Longchamps, 1848)

Taxonomic source(s)

Taxonomic note Livezey considers this taxon conspecific with Purple Swamphen P. porphyrio2, but Cheke points out that the montane forest habitat (the Plaine des Cafres) reported for the species by most of the early writers would be atypical for P. porphyrio1.


Summary Porphyrio coerulescens was endemic to Réunion (to France) from where it was described as oiseau bleu by six early travellers1. It was probably not flightless, but was nevertheless easily hunted, presumably leading to its extinction by around 1730.

www.birdlife.net/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=30088&m=0

[another specialist]

source for reply 4

www.ornitaxa.com/SM/Fossil/FossilRalli.htm

[dysmorodrepanis]

The locations assigned to this bird (eastern high part of the island) have not been searched. All (sub)fossils collected on Réunion this far have been from the northwestern part of the island close to the sea.

[another specialist]

Probably extinct around 1730. Considered conspecific with P porphyrio by some, but very different habitat
(montane forest) make this unlikely (BC).

www.wetlands.org/pubs&/pub_online/WPE/131-140.pdf

[sebbe67]

[Carlos]

In: Mourer-Chauviré, C. et al. Recent avian extinctions on Réunion (Mascarene Islands) from paleontological and historical sources. Bull B.O.C. 2006 126A

Species mentioned historically for which fossils and specimens are unavailable

Cyanornis (?=Porphyrio) caerulescens (Sélys-Longchamps, 1848), Oiseau bleu.

The presence of a large, blue bird was first mentioned by Dubois, without indication of locality, but all subsequent writers reported that it was found in the plains above the mountains and mainly at 'Plaine des Cafres', in the south-west part of the island, more than 1,500 m above sea level. As yet, no fossil remains have been found, which is probably attributable to its distribution; it was not present in that part of the island where all the fossiliferous localities are located.

Dubois wrote: 'Oiseaux bleus, as big as solitaires. Their plumage is all blue, their bill and feet red, made as the feet of fowls. They do not fly but they run extremely fast, so that a dog has difficulty to catching them when hunting. They are very good [to eat]' (Barré & Barau 1982, our translations). According to a report attributed to a certain Father Brown (see Cheke 1987): 'It rarely flies, always hugging the ground, but it runs with surprising speed' (Olson 1977). Taking into account its size and that it was not entirely flightless, Olson (1977) and Cheke (1987) considered it possible that this bird belonged to the genus Porphyrio.

[another specialist]

Oiseau bleu, Porphyrio sp. (Réunion, Mascarenes, around 1750)

Known only from descriptions. Former existence of a Porphyrio on Réunion fairly certain, but not proven to date.

encyclopedia.vestigatio.com/Extinct_birds

[another specialist]

floreboquocumbeferar.blogs-de-voyage.fr/album/les_animaux_disparus/PICT0100.html

[Melanie]

The R¨¦union Swamphen, R¨¦union Gallinule or Oiseau bleu (Porphyrio coerulescens) is a hypothetical species of extinct rail from R¨¦union, Mascarenes until now only known from reports of travellers.

It is quite certain that such a bird once was present on the island. Six reports attest to its existence, and the genus Porphyrio is known as a colonizer of oceanic islands, having evolved into many local endemic species, of which only the Takah¨¥ is still found to be extant nowadays. Many later authors assume that this bird was flightless, but the 1674 statement of Dubois is best understood thus that they were unwilling rather than incapable of using flight as a means of escape; also, Dubois' report is confusing in some other ways, suggesting that he mixed up some reports on the "Solitaire" with those of the oiseau bleu. At any rate, the bird was a bit larger than a chicken, or between a Purple Swamphen and a takah¨¥ in size, and of entirely dull blue coloration, with a red beak and feet.


[edit] Extinction
The bird is attested to have exclusively occurred on the Plaine des Cafres, the high plateau of R¨¦union between the Piton des Neiges and the Piton de la Fournaise, from 1700 on at least (Dubois gives no locality information, but all other authors restrict the bird to the plateau). The missionary P¨¨re Brown's testimony of 1724 is generally believed to be the last unequivocal record of the bird, but an anonymous British naval officer reports stories about birds limited to the high plateau that can be killed with sticks in 1763. The various reports disagree about whether this bird was considered good eating; most species of Porphyrio are generally considered to have a rather disagreeable taste. Especially in the light of Feuilley's 1705 report, it seems that adult birds were not usually hunted at least part of the year. This, and the remoteness of its habitat, perhaps explains why the birds were able to persist for longer than most other R¨¦union endemics, which were extinct by 1700. Since the 1763 report is very unspecific and could as well refer to petrels or shearwaters, it is generally assumed that the R¨¦union Swamphen was extinct by 1730. As the area where it occurred was not yet being cleared for cultivation, introduced predators and hunting by escaped slaves who took to the mountains are obviously the reasons for its disappearance.

In November 1974, it was attempted to find possible fossil localities on the Plaine des Cafres. No caves or other promising locations were found, and it was determined that the attempt to prove the existence of this bird would have to wait pending a more thorough mapping of the area.


[edit] References
BirdLife International (2004). Porphyrio coerulescens. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 26 Jun 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is extinct.
de S¨¦lys Longchamps, Edmond (1848): R¨¦sum¨¦ concernant les oiseaux br¨¦vipennes mentionn¨¦s dans l'ouvrage de M. Strickland sur le Dodo. Rev. Zool. 1848: 292-295. [Article in French]
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union_Swamphen"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union_Swamphen

Syn:

Apterornis coerulescens Selys, 1848
Cyanornis erythrorhynchus Bonaparte, 1854

[another specialist]

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 (1907)

[another specialist]

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 (1907)

[Melanie]

Systematics, morphology and ecology of rails (Aves: Rallidae) of the Mascarene Islands, with one new species
JULIAN PENDER HUME

Abstract

Five species in five genera of extinct endemic rails have been described from the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues: the Mauritian Red Rail or Poule Rouge Aphanapteryx bonasia; Mascarene Coot or Poule d’eau Fulica newtonii; which occurred on Mauritius and Réunion; Réunion Wood Rail Dryolimnas augusti; Réunion Gallinule or Oiseaux bleu ‘Porphyrio caerulescens’; and Rodrigues or Leguat’s Rail Erythromachus leguati. All are known from fossil remains and/or from contemporary accounts and illustrations. A sixth species of rail Dryolimnas sp. nov. is described herein from fossils from Mauritius, but was not unequivocally previously reported in the contemporary literature. This paper provides an analysis of the Rallidae of the Mascarene Islands based on existing and newly discovered fossil remains, and details historical reports and accounts. Comprehensive osteological descriptions and synonymies are also included. Their ecology and extinction chronologies are interpreted from historical ev­idence. The relationships of Aphanapteryx and Erythromachus are unresolved, having clearly been isolated for a considerable time; the middle Miocene is the earliest their ancestors could have arrived on the Mascarenes, but this may have happened more recently. Mascarene derivatives of Fulica, Porphyrio and Dryolimnas are of much more recent origin, and appear to have originated in Africa or Madagascar. All terrestrial rails on Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues, were probable victims of cat predation following their historic introduction to the islands, whereas over-hunting by humans was probably the primary cause of extinction of ‘Porphyrio caerulescens’ on Réunion. The only extant rail on the Mascarenes today, the Madagascar race of Eurasian Moorhen Gallinula chloropus pyrrhorrhoa, is a recent arrival, having colonised Mauritius and Réunion after the extinction of Fulica newtonii.



Keywords

Aves, Mascarene rails, Rallidae, Aphanapteryx, Erythromachus, Dryolimnas, Porphyrio, Gallinula, Leguatia, extinction, affinities, ecology, sexual dimorphism

mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4626.1.1

[Melanie]

I've just written to Julian Hume and asked him about the reasons why there are no physical remains of Porphyrio coerulescens. Here is his reply which gives a good appraisal on the current paleontological situation on Réunion:

The problem with finding physical evidence for Porphyrio caerulescens is that it appears to have been restricted to the montane regions of Reunion, especially the Plaine des Cafres (see my Zootaxa rail paper). I have visited the Plaine des Cafres, and fossil preservation would be very difficult for a number of reasons. First, the area is mountainous with almost continual rains, so any fossil material would be rapidly washed away. Second, the soil is wet and acidic, which destroys bone material extremely rapidly. Third, and according to accounts, the gallinule did not occur in the lowlands at all; hence, no preserved fossil material. Almost all known fossils on Reunion were found in the lowlands, except Dryolimnas augustii, which were recovered from a highland lava cave (Cavern de la Tortue).

(Source: Julian Hume pers. comment April 1, 2021)