The Jamaica Petrel or Blue Mountain Duck (Pterodroma caribbaea) is (or was) a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, Pterodroma. It is related to the Black-capped Petrel P. hasitata, and often considered a subspecies.
This species was last collected in 1879, and was searched for without success between 1996 and 2000. However, it cannot yet be classified as extinct because nocturnal petrels are notoriously difficult to record, and it may conceivably occur on Dominica and Guadeloupe.
Several species of lice are known to have parasitized the Jamaica and Black-capped Petrels. If the former is extinct, one of these lice, the phtilopterid Saemundssonia jamaicensis may be coextinct as it has not been found on other birds (Mey 1990).
*Extinct?*
Petrels
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Pterodroma caribbaea. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2006. Retrieved on 6 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is possibly extinct
- Mey, Eberhard (1990): Eine neue ausgestorbene Vogel-Ischnozere von Neuseeland, Huiacola extinctus (Insecta, Phthiraptera). Zoologischer Anzeiger 224(1/2): 49-73. [German with English abstract]
