The Réunion fody (''Foudia delloni'') is an extinct bird species from the family of

weavers Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainment ...

. It was endemic to the

Mascarene The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their na ...

island of

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

Taxonomy

This bird was first mentioned in a report by traveller Gabriel DellonCheke & Hume p. 43 & p. 228 and a second time in 1674 by Dubois.Cheke & Hume p. 228 The species, of which no museum specimens exist, was formally described as a new species by Anthony Cheke and Julian Pender Hume in their book ''Lost Land of the Dodo'' in 2008. A type of fody on Réunion was previously mentioned as ''Foudia bruante'' by

Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller (25 April 1725 – 5 January 1776) was a German zoologist. Statius Müller was born in Esens, and was a professor of natural science at Erlangen. Between 1773 and 1776, he published a German translation of Linnaeus' ...

in the work '' Planches Enluminées'' in 1776. But after a hypothesis by Cheke and Hume, ''Foudia bruante'' might be just a colour morph of the

red fody The red fody (''Foudia madagascariensis''), also known as the Madagascar fody in Madagascar, red cardinal fody in Mauritius, or common fody, is a small bird native to Madagascar and introduced to various other islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a ...

, which was introduced to Réunion about 100 years after the discovery of ''Foudia delloni''.

Description

The Réunion fody reached roughly the size of a

house sparrow The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the Old World sparrow, sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pa ...

. The head, neck, throat and the wing underparts of the breeding male were bright red. Back and tail were brown. The belly was pale. The head of the females and the juvenile males was brown. Neck and wings were red. The throat was pale brown.Cheke & Hume p. 43

Extinction

The Réunion fody was once described as abundant and as a pest that destroyed entire crops. It was last seen shortly after 1672. The reason for its extinction might be predation by rats.

Notes

References

* Anthony Cheke & Julian Hume (2008): ''Lost Land of the Dodo'' T. & A.D. Poyser. . *

Sieur Dubois Sieur Dubois () or Sieur D. B. was a French traveller who reached the islands of Madagascar and Réunion at the time of early colonization by France. He wrote a book in French, published in 1674, about his journeys and the wildlife he saw includi ...

(1674): ''Les voyages faits par le Sieur D.B. aux îles Dauphine ou Madagascar et Bourbon. ou Mascareine ès années 1669, 1670, 1671 et 1672''. Claude Barbin, Paris. 234 pp. * Gabriel Dellon (1685): ''Relation d'un voyage des Indes orientales. Claude Barbin, Paris. 284 pp. * R. E. Moreau: ''The ploceine weavers of the Indian Ocean islands''. Journal of Ornithology. Volume 101, Numbers 1-2 / April 1960. pp. 29–49. Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, (about Foudia bruante). {{DEFAULTSORT:Reunion Fody Foudia Extinct birds of Indian Ocean islands Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds of Réunion

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Birds described in 2008