ABSTRACT The extinct Puerto Rican Parakeet (Psittacara maugei) has been known with certainty only from Mona Island and is usually regarded as a poorly defined subspecies of P. chloroptera of Hispaniola. Examination of skin specimens and comparison of skeletons with fossil and archeological material from Puerto Rico, show that Psitticara maugei is a fully distinct species from P. chloroptera, differing in plumage and particularly in bill morphology, such that a probable difference in diet is suggested. The main range of P. maugei was Puerto Rico, with the Mona Island population being only an isolated outlier. Extinction took place on Puerto Rico by the mid-1800s and on Mona Island shortly after 1892 possibly because of a combination of habitat destruction, persecution for crop depredations, and disease.
