Réunion Shelduck

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Réunion Shelduck
Conservation status
Extinct  (c.1690) (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae Genus: Alopochen Species: A. kervazoi
Binomial name
Alopochen kervazoi (Cowles, 1994)
Synonyms
Mascarenachen kervazoi Cowles, 1994

The Réunion Shelduck or Kervazo's Egyptian Goose (Alopochen kervazoi) is an extinct species of goose from Réunion. It was a close relative of the Egyptian Goose and was about the same size. There is only one description remaining, that of Dubois made in 1674. He merely mentions that they were similar to European geese but smaller, with the bill and feet being red. Apart from that, the species is only known from brief reports and subfossil bones.

[edit] Extinction

Waterfowl on Réunion were overhunted. As early as 1667, François Martin complained of unsustainable hunting. The last record of the species is a 1709 listing of de la Merveille who stated that ducks and geese occurred "in quantity", but as Feuilley had not listed waterfowl in his 1705 catalogue of Réunion's animals, de la Merveille's record is obviously based on obsolete hearsay information. Thus, the last record of the species appears to be the report of Père Bernardin in 1687. The species probably became extinct during the 1690s.

[edit] References

• Cowles, Graham S. (1994): A new genus, three new species and two new records of extinct Holocene birds from Réunion Island, Indian Ocean. Geobios 27(1): 87–93.