Jamaican petrel

The Jamaican petrel (Pterodroma caribbaea) is a small possibly extinct seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, Pterodroma. It is related to the black-capped petrel (P. hasitata).

Jamaican petrel
Illustration by Joseph Smit, 1866
Conservation status
Critically endangered, possibly extinct  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Procellariiformes
Family:	Procellariidae
Genus:	Pterodroma
Species:	P. caribbaea
Binomial name
Pterodroma caribbaea Carte, 1866[2]

Conservation

This species was last collected in 1879, and was searched for without success between 1996 and 2000.^[1] However, it cannot yet be classified as extinct because nocturnal petrels are notoriously difficult to record, and it may still occur on Dominica and Guadeloupe. If it is extinct, the most likely cause is due to predation by introduced mongooses and rats.

Illustration from 1907

Parasites

Several species of lice are known to have parasitized the Jamaica and black-capped petrels.^{[citation needed]} 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.