Ara guadeloupensis

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Kingdom Animalia

Created by Peter Maas for The Extinction Website. This image has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Licence.

Phylum Chordata
Class Aves (birds)
Order Psittaciformes (parrots)
Family Psittacidae (true parrots)
Subfamily Psittacinae
Authority Clark, 1905
 
English Name Guadeloupe Red Macaw, Lesser Antillean Macaw
Dutch Name Guadeloupe Ara
French Name Ara de Guadeloupe
German Name Guadeloupe-Ara
Spanish Name Guacamayo Rojo de Guadalupe
 
Synonyms Anadorhynchus purpurascens Rothschild, 1905; Anadorhynchus martinicus Rothschild, 1905 (if it occurred on Martinique)
 
Comments This parrot is usually considered a hypothetical extinct parrot species.
 
Taxonomy Rothschild (1905) described macaws from Guadeloupe as Anadorhynchus (sic.) purpurascens (based on the writings of Don de Navaret in 1838), and from Martinique, as Anadorhynchus (sic.) martinicus (based on the writings of Bouton in 1640), but there is no solid evidence that these differed from Ara guadeloupensis (the name of which has priority). A re-evaluation of the historical documentation and archaeological exploration are required to elucidate this (BirdLife International 2004). 
 
Characteristics This species was superficially similar to the Scarlet Macaw, Ara macao, but smaller and with a tail entirely red according to Salvadori (1906; in Williams and Steadman 2001). Du Tertre (1654; in Clark 1905) gave the following description: "the head, neck, underparts, and back are flame colour. The wings are a mixture of yellow, azure, and scarlet. The tail is wholly red, and a foot and a half long." The tail of the Guadeloupe Red Macaw was much larger than in the Cuban Red Macaw, Ara tricolor, although Greenway (1958) incorrectly claimed that the Guadeloupe Red Macaw had a shorter tail than the Cuban Red Macaw. Labat (1724) observed a macaw on Guadeloupe with similar plumage, stating further that the macaws and parrots of Guadeloupe were generally larger than those from other islands, although the parakeets were smaller. An ulna (elbow bone), possibly of the Guadeloupe Red Macaw, found on the adjacent island of Marie Galante is slightly smaller than that in the Scarlet Macaw, and substantially smaller than in the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, Ara ararauna. (Williams and Steadman 2001)
 
Range & Habitat The Guadeloupe or Lesser Antillean Macaw was endemic to Guadeloupe (to France), and possibly also on Dominica and Martinique (to France) (Clark 1905; BirdLife International 2004). Although Williams and Steadman (2001) find no evidence for the suggestion by Clark (1905) that Ara guadeloupensis also occurred on Dominica and Martinique.

Image: map with the previous range of the Guadeloupe Macaw (in red). Created by Peter Maas for The Extinction Website. The copyright holder of this work has released it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.

 It would seem more likely that each island or set of nearby islands has its own endemic macaw species, namely Ara guadeloupensis on Guadeloupe, Ara atwoodi on Dominica, and Ara martinica on Martinique. (Rothschild 1907; Williams and Steadman 2001). An ulna (elbow bone) has been found on the adjacent island of Marie Galante (Guadeloupe, France), suggesting it also occurred there (Williams and Steadman 2001). This bone could possibly be of the Guadeloupe Red Macaw, but it can also be from a  different subspecies or even another species.
 
History & Population In 1493, Christopher Columbus reported red parrots that were called “Guacamayos” by the Caribs on Guadeloupe (Clark 1905). The Lesser Antillean Macaw was described in detail by Du Tertre in 1654 and 1677, and by Labat in 1742, amongst others (Clark 1905). These macaws were rare by 1760 (Clark 1905), and presumably became extinct soon after (BirdLife International 2004).
 
Extinction Causes Birds were heavily hunted and trapped (Clark 1905; BirdLife International 2004). Du Tertre (1654; in Williams and Steadman 2001) mentioned that this species was long-lived (“live longer than a man”) but that they were “almost all subject to a falling sickness”. Therefore it is possible that a disease outbreak, combined with hunting pressure, could have resulted in the extinction of the Guadeloupe Red Macaw (Williams and Steadman 2001).
 
Museum Specimens There exist no specimens in any known collection (Clark 1905). An ulna (elbow bone), possibly of the Guadeloupe Red Macaw, has been found in the Folle Anse archaeological site on the adjacent island of Marie Galante (Guadeloupe, France).
 
Relatives The relatives of this species are all other macaw species, including the other extinct West Indian macaw species, like the Cuban Red Macaw (Ara tricolor), Dominica Macaw (Ara atwoodi), Red-headed Green Macaw (Ara erythrocephala), Red-tailed Blue-and-Yellow Macaw (Ara erythrura), Jamaican Red Macaw  (Ara gossei), and the Martinique Macaw (Ara martinica).
 
Links

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Ara guadeloupensis

LAMECA - Les Espèces animales disparues de la Guadeloupe et de la Caraïbe

Ausgerottete Arten - Guadeloupe-Ara

 

References

(Complete website)

 BirdLife International 2004. Ara guadeloupensis. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 27 January 2007.

Clark, A. H. (1905). The Lesser Antillean macaws. Auk 22: 266-273.

Du Tertre, J. (1654). Histoire générale des îles Saint-Christophe, de la Guadeloupe, de la Martinique et autres de l'Amérique (Paris).

Greenway, J. C. (1958). Extinct and vanishing birds of the world. New York, American Committee for International Wild Life Protection.

Labat, J. B. 1724 Nouveau voyage du Père Labat, aux Isles de l'Amérique. P. Husson, T. Johnoson, P. Gosse, J. van Duren, R. Alberts et C. Le Vier, La Haye.

Labat, J. (1722 et 1742). Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amérique, contenant l'histoire naturelle de ces pays, l'origine, les moeurs, la religion et le gouvernement des habitants anciens et modernes, les guerres et les évènements singuliers qui y sont arrivez & le commerce et les manufactures qui y sont établies, Paris, imp. G ; Cavelier, 6 vol., plans, cartes, planches, pour la 1° éd. ; imp. J.-B. Delespine, 4 vol., plans, cartes et planches pour la 2° éd.

Rothschild, W. (1905) Notes on extinct parrots from the West Indies. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club 16: 13-15.

Rothschild, Walter (1907): Extinct Birds.

Williams, M. I. & D. V. Steadman (2001): The historic and prehistoric distribution of parrots (Psittacidae) in the West Indies. Pp 175-489 in Biogeography of the West Indies: patterns and perspectives. 2nd ed. (Woods, C. A. & F. E. Sergile, eds.) Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Last updated: 4th February 2007.

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