Tag: Mascarene

Dodo reconstruction at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France
This replica of the dodo is the result of interpretative work based on historical and scientific research: accounts, depictions and bones. No taxidermied specimen of the species exists. The bird was created by the artist Camille Renversade and realised in collaboration with the museum’s taxidermy workshops. (© Doreen Fräßdorf, photographed at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, France, 2024)

Dodo – Dead as a dodo

The dodo, related to pigeons (Columbidae), is probably the best-known example of an animal species exterminated by humans. References to the bird in literature and painting are common—for example in chapter three of the children’s book Alice in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll or in the paintings of the Flemish

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Epactoides giganteus
The back of the scarab beetle E. giganteus was completely black, red-brown at the sides, with yellow hairs and brownish mouthparts, feet and antennae. (© Rossini M, Vaz-de-Mello FZ, Montreuil O, Porch N, Tarasov S (2021) <a href="https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.70130" target="blank"Extinct before discovered? Epactoides giganteus sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae), the first native dung beetle to Réunion island. ZooKeys 1061: 75-86.)

Epactoides giganteus (scarab beetle)

First extinct, then discovered: the scarab beetle Epactoides giganteus In 1817, the French botanist Nicolas Bréon found himself on Réunion, part of the Mascarene island group, which he would not leave again until 1833 due to health problems. During his time there he was director of the botanical garden Jardin

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Mauritius-Schnauzenfalter (Libythea cinyras) - Holotyp
The only known specimen of the extinct Mauritius libythid butterfly. The upper side of the wings was dark brown with orange patches. (© "014172727_Libythea_cinyras_HT_Dorsal" - Libythea cinyras Trimen, 1866 by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, CC BY 4.0, via GBIF)

Mauritius Libythid Butterfly

Known from only one specimen Only a single specimen of the Mauritius libythid butterfly or snout butterfly is known, collected in 1865 on the Mascarene island of Mauritius in the Moka District. A certain Mr. Colville Barclay discovered the snout butterfly and gave it to the British-South African naturalist Roland

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