The broad-billed parrot or raven parrot is a large extinct parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It was endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius. The species was first referred to as the "Indian raven" in Dutch ships' journals from 1598 onwards. Only a few brief contemporary descriptions and three depictions are known. It was first scientifically described from a subfossil mandible in 1866, but this was not linked to the old accounts until the rediscovery of a detailed 1601 sketch that matched both the subfossils and the accounts. It is unclear what other species it was most closely related to, but it has been classified as a member of the tribe Psittaculini, along with other Mascarene parrots. It had similarities with the Rodrigues parrot, and may have been closely related.
Broad-billed parrot
Woodcut from 1601, with the first published depiction of a broad-billed parrot (5, perched in a tree above).
Lithograph of the now lost subfossil holotype mandible, 1866
Life restoration by Julian P. Hume, with colouration based on contemporary accounts
The Mascarene Islands or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of La RĂ©union. Their name derives from the Portuguese navigator Pedro Mascarenhas, who first visited them in April 1512. The islands share a common geologic origin in the volcanism of the RĂ©union hotspot beneath the Mascarene Plateau and form a distinct ecoregion with a unique flora and fauna.
Piton de la Fournaise
Pedro Mascarenhas, namesake of the Mascarene Islands, was Viceroy of Portuguese India.
Foetidia mauritiana
Phyllanthus tenellus (Mascarenes leaf-flower)