Several species have been assumed to exist, but due to a lack of evidence they can only be regarded as potential species. They have caused confusion, as they may have been a separate

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, a subspecies, an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

or a misidentification.

List of hypothetical species

Birds

Dominican green-and-yellow macaw The Dominican green-and-yellow macaw (''Ara atwoodi''), Atwood's macaw or Dominican macaw, is an extinct species of macaw that may have lived on the island of Dominica. It is known only through the writings of British colonial judge Thomas Atwoo ...

Gallus giganteus ''Gallus giganteus'' or Jago cock is a hypothetical species of fowl. It was first described in 1838 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck who named it on the basis of large foot that he received, having a 5 cm spur. Temminck thought it was a wild bird f ...

Guadeloupe amazon The Guadeloupe amazon (''Amazona violacea'') or Guadeloupe parrot, is a hypothetical extinct species of parrot that is thought to have been endemic to the Lesser Antillean island region of Guadeloupe. Mentioned and described by 17th- and 18t ...

* Guadeloupe parakeet * Jamaican red macaw * Lesser Antillean macaw *

Martinique amazon The Martinique amazon (''Amazona martinicana'') is a hypothetical extinct species of Caribbean parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is not known from any material remains, but was said to be similar to the red-necked amazon (''A. arausiaca'') f ...

Martinique macaw The Martinique macaw or orange-bellied macaw (''Ara martinicus'') is a hypothetical extinct species of macaw which may have been endemic to the Lesser Antillean island of Martinique, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was scientifically named by W ...

* Hypothetical relatives of the Rodrigues Parrot * Red-headed macaw * White Dodo/Réunion solitaire (probable misidentification of the

Réunion ibis The Réunion ibis or Réunion sacred ibis (''Threskiornis solitarius'') is an extinct species of ibis that was endemic to the volcanic island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The first subfossil remains were found in 1974, and the ibis was firs ...

) *

Réunion swamphen The Réunion swamphen (''Porphyrio caerulescens''), also known as the Réunion gallinule or ' (French for "blue bird"), is a hypothetical extinct species of rail that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Réunion. While only known from 17th- ...

* Painted vulture

Dinosaurs

Archaeoraptor "Archaeoraptor" is the informal generic name for a fossil chimera from China in an article published in ''National Geographic'' magazine in 1999. The magazine claimed that the fossil was a " missing link" between birds and terrestrial therop ...

Proavis Proavis refers to a hypothetical extinct species or hypothetical extinct taxon and was coined in the early 20th century in an attempt to support and explain the hypothetical evolutionary steps and anatomical adaptations leading from non-avian the ...

Insects

* Venezuelan poodle moth *'' Battus polydamas antiquus'' (Possibly based on a misidentification)

Mammals

* Chilihueque * Sumxu * Kting voar * Steller's sea ape * Marozi * Andean wolf * Kallana *Zhejiang unknown canid

Fish

Bathysphaera An illustration based on Else Bostelmann's reconstruction "''Bathysphaera intacta''", the "giant dragonfish" is species of fish that was described by William Beebe on 22 September 1932, being spotted by the biologist as he descended to a depth of ...

Bathysidus The five-lined constellation fish (''Bathysidus pentagrammus'') is species of fish that was described by William Beebe on 11 August 1934, being spotted by the biologist as he descended to a depth of 580 metres (1900 feet) of the coast of Bermuda. ...

* Bathyembryx

References

Parrots Hypothetical extinct species {{Animal-stub