Hypothetical species

A 1722 illustration by Jean-Baptiste Labat of three parrots on Guadeloupe. There are no remains of these parrots and so accurate taxonomic classification is impossible.

Several extinct species have been postulated, but owing to a lack of evidence they can only be regarded as hypothetical extinct species. They have caused confusion, as they may have been a separate species, a subspecies, or an introduced species.

Parrots

Populations of several parrot species were described mainly in the unscientific writings of early travelers to the Caribbean and Mascarene Islands, and subsequently scientifically described by several naturalists mainly in the 20th century, with no more evidence than the earlier observations and without specimens, to have their names associated with the extinct species that they were postulating.

List of hypothetical species

• Battus polydamas antiquus (possibly based on a misidentification)
• Dominican green-and-yellow macaw
• Eos unicolor
• Geoffroyus aureus
• Guadeloupe amazon
• Jamaican red macaw
• Painted vulture
• Lesser Antillean macaw
• Lorius tibialis
• Martinique amazon
• Martinique macaw
• hypothetical relatives of the Rodrigues Parrot
• Red-headed macaw
• Réunion solitaire (probable misidentification of the Réunion ibis)
• Réunion swamphen