Abstract:
We describe an extinct parrot from late Quaternary fossil bone deposits on the Chatham Islands, located c. 800 kmeast of mainland New Zealand. Mitochondrial DNA analyses and osteological characters confirm that the ChathamIslands parrot was a sister taxon to the New Zealand kaka (Nestor meridionalis Gmelin, 1788). The relativelylarge femur : humerus length ratio and broad pelvis of the Chatham Islands parrot indicate that it had a moreterrestrial habit than the kaka. Stable dietary isotope analyses (δ15N and δ13C) of Chatham Islands parrot bonessuggest that the species may have been mainly herbivorous, although further analyses are required to confirmthis. The presence of Chatham Islands parrot bones in early midden deposits shows that the species persistedinto the post-settlement era, and became extinct possibly as a result of habitat loss, hunting pressure, and ratpredation following initial Polynesian settlement of the islands (sometime between the 13thand 16thcenturies AD).