echo parakeet, Mauritius parakeet (Psittacula eques echo) Description
English: Echo parakeet (Psittacula eques echo), the rarest Parrokeet in the world, saved from extinction by captive breeding programme at the Durrell trust Blackwater Gorge. The Mauritius Parakeet, also known as Echo Parakeet. Its local name is katover. It is a subspecies of ('Psittacula eques).
Date 12 March 2008, 12:55:31
Source originally posted to Flickr as Mauritian (echo) parakeet(Psittacula echo)
Author colin houston http://flickr.com/photos/57705427@N00
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Echo_parakeet_(Psittacula_eques_echo)_-at_Durrell_Trust.jpg
The echo parakeet or Mauritius parakeet (Psittacula eques), is a parrot endemic to Mauritius in the southern Indian Ocean. It is the only extant parrot of the Mascarene islands, all others have become extinct due to human activity. The extinct Réunion parakeet of Réunion was previously considered a distinct species, but a 2015 DNA study determined it to be a subspecies of the same species as the Mauritius population. If the Mauritius and Réunion birds are considered the same species, and the subspecies model is considered, then the Echo parakeet becomes the English group name for both, with the Mauritian birds using the scientific name Psittacula eques echo.
Order: Psittaciformes
Superfamily: Psittacoidea
Family: Psittaculidae
Subfamily: Psittaculinae
Tribe: Psittaculini
Genus: Psittacula
Species: Psittacula eques (Boddaert, 1783)
Subspecies: Psittacula eques echo
Synonyms:
Psittacus eques Boddaert, 1783
Psittica torquata Latham, 1822
Psittacula echo A. Newton & E. Newton, 1876