CEPA
The New Caledonian Lorikeet (Charmosyna diadema) has not been reliably reported since 1976.
In 2002, WPT funded a New Caledonian team’s research with the aim of locating the lorikeet, and if not found, studying two other species, the New Caledonian Parakeet and the Horned Parakeet.
This lorikeet has not been located despite consistent efforts in interviewing local people for sightings and surveying different island areas. Funding was made available to carry on surveys and studies until 2011. Two recent reviews of the species’ situation discovered that the Mt Panié massif reserve be upgraded to a special faunal and floral reserve, with Colnett and Ignambi mountains to the north added to form one continuous section of forest.
Status: IUCN Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) / CITES Appendix II
Population: <50, with no reports since 1976.
Threats: This species has a restricted range. May need lowland semi-deciduous forests, which have almost disappeared from the island. Introduced diseases (avian malaria) or predators may have caused it to decline.
Range: New Caledonia, Melanesia.
Natural history: Reports indicated that this lorikeet lived in forests and sometimes fed in Erythina trees (Layard and Layard 1882). It is thought that it and closely related Charmosyna range into lowland forests from mountain forests, depending on the season.