Alectroenas nitidissimus Scopoli, 1786:93

Mauritius blue pigeon, Dutch pigeon, Pigeon hollandais

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Columba nitidissima Scopoli, 1786:93; Alectroenas nitidissima Scopoli, 1786:93; Columba Franciae Latham, 1790:604

Conservation Status

Extinct

Last record: 1826; 1832?; c.1835 (Cheke & Hume, 2008); 1837 (Kittelberger et al., 2024)

IUCN RedList status: Extinct

Distribution

Mauritius

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Only three preserved skins now exist (Hume, 2011).

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Scopoli, J. A. (1786-1788). Deliciae Florae et Faunae insubricae seu Novae, aut minus cognitae species Plantarum et Animalium quas inIinsubria Austriaca. Monastierii S. Salvatoris, Ticini.

Other references:

Baptista, L. F., Trail, P. W. and Horblit, H. M. (1997). Family Columbidae (Pigeons), pp. 60-243. In: del Hoyo, T., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 4. Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.

BirdLife International. (2012). Alectroenas nitidissima. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 17 March 2013.

BirdLife International. 2016. Alectroenas nitidissimus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22691601A93318208. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22691601A93318208.en. Accessed on 20 June 2022.

Brooks, T. 2000. Extinct species. In: BirdLife International (ed.), Threatened Birds of the World, pp. 701-708. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona and Cambridge, U.K.

Cheke, A.S. 1987. An ecological history of the Mascarene Islands, with particular reference to extinctions and introductions of land vertebrates. In: Diamond, A.W. (ed.), Studies of Mascarene island birds, pp. 5-89. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.

Cheke, Anthony S. (2013). Extinct birds of the Mascarenes and Seychelles - a review of the causes of extinction in the light of an important new publication on extinct birds. Phelsuma 21: 4-19.

Cheke, Anthony S. and Hume, Julian Pender. (2008). Lost Land of the Dodo: An Ecological History of Mauritius, Réunion & Rodrigues. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 464 pp.

Cowles, G. S. 1987. The fossil record. In: Diamond, A.W. (ed.), Studies of Mascarene Island birds, pp. 90-100. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.

Desjardins, J. (1832). Troisième Rapport Annual de la Travaux Société d'Histoire Naturelle de I'lle Maurice. [MS published as p. 53-112 in: Ly-Tio-Fane, M. (ed.). (1972). Société d'Histoire Naturelle de l'Ile Maurice. Rapports annuels I-IV, 1830-1834. Port Louis, Mauritius: Royal Society of Arts & Sciences of Mauritius.]

Fuller, Errol. (1988). Extinct Birds. New York: Facts on File Publications. 256 pp.

Gibbs, David, Barnes, Eustace and Cox, John (2001). Pigeons and Doves: A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World. Robertsbridge, Sussex: Pica Press.

Goodwin, Derek. (1983). Pigeons and Doves of the World, third edition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Greenway, J. C. (1967). Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World. New York: Dover Publications.

del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Hume, Julian Pender. (2011). Systematics, morphology, and ecology of pigeons and doves (Aves: Columbidae) of the Mascarene Islands, with three new species. Zootaxa 3124: 1-62. [Abstract]

Hume, Julian Pender. (2013). A synopsis of the pre-human avifauna of the Mascarene Islands, pp. 195-237. In: Göhlich, U.B. & Kroh, A. (eds.). Proceedings of the 8th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution. Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien.

Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser.

Hume, Julian Pender and Winters, Ria. (2015). Captive birds on Dutch Mauritius: bad-tempered parrots, warty pigeons and notes on other native animals. Historical Biology. DOI:10.1080/08912963.2015.1036750

Jouanin, Christian. (1962). Inventaire des oiseaux éteints ou en voie d’extinction conservés au Muséum de Paris. Terre et Vie 109: 275-301.

Jouanin, Christian. (1997). L’impératrice Joséphine et les sciences naturelles. In: Arneville, M.-B. D’ (ed.), Catalogue de l’exposition du Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison et Bois-Préau 29 mai-6 octobre 1997. Réunion des Musées nationaux, Paris: 20-72, 112-160.

Kittelberger, Kyle D., Tanner, Colby J., Buxton, Amy N., Prewett, Amira and Şekercioğlu, Çağan Hakkı. (2024). Correlates of avian extinction timing around the world since 1500 CE. Avian Research 15: 100213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avrs.2024.100213 [Supplementary data (List of 216 taxa)]

KNIP DE COURCELLES P. & TEMMINCK J. C. 1809-1811. — Les pigeons par Madame Knip, née Pauline de Courcelles ; texte par J. C. Temminck. Bellizard, Dufour et Cie, Paris, 1 vol.

Latham, J. (1790). Indicis ornithologici sive systematis ornithologiae. Sotherby, Londres. 920 pp.

Milne-Edwards, A. and Oustalet, E. (1893). Notice sur quelques espéces d’oiseaux actuellement éteintes qui se trouvent représentées dans les collections du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, pp. 190–252. Centenaire de la fondation du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. Paris (Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle).

Newton, A. (1897). A specimen of Alectroenas nitidissima in Edinburgh. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1897: 2-4.

Oustalet, E. (1897). Notice sur la faune ornithologique ancienne et moderne des Iles Mascareignes et en particulier de I'lle Maurice. Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Zoologie 8(3): 1-128.

Rothschild, Lionel Walter. (1907). Extinct birds: an attempt to write 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. XXIX + 243 pp. [p. 163, pl. 22]

Sayol, Ferran, Steinbauer, Manuel J., Blackburn, Tim M., Antonelli, Alexandre and Faurby, Søren. (2020). Anthropogenic extinctions conceal widespread evolution of flightlessness in birds. Science Advances 6(49): eabb6095. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6095 [Supplementary Material (Data File S1)]

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Sweet, J. M. (1970). The collection of Louis Dufresne (1752-1832). Annals of Science 26: 33-71.

Temminck, C. J. (1813-15). Histoire naturelle des pigeons et des gallinacées, volume I. Amsterdam: J.C. Sepp & fils & Paris: G. Dufour.

Tuijn, P. (1969). Notes on the extinct pigeon from Mauritius, Alectroenas nitidissima (Scopoli 1786). Beaufortia 16: 163-170.

Tyrberg, Tommy. (2009). Holocene avian extinctions, pp. 63-106. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK & New York, USA: Oxford University Press. xii + 352 pp.

Voisin, Claire, Voisin, Jean-François, Jouanin, Christian and Bour, Roger. (2004). Liste des types d’oiseaux des collections du Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle de Paris. 13: Gangas et Pigeons (Pteroclididae et Columbidae), première partie. Zoosystema 26(1): 107-128.

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