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Several species have been assumed to exist, but due to a lack of physical evidence they can only be regarded as hypothetical or potential species. Hypothetical species are usually believed to be extinct. They have caused confusion, as they may have been a separate species, a subspecies, an introduced species or a misidentification.^[1] It can also refer to species that are hypothesised to have existed evolutionarily.

List of hypothetical species

Birds

Albin’s macaw
Arkansaw siskin, Fringilla spaltria^[2]
Barraband’s mystery black-breasted twelve-wired bird-of-paradise
Bird of Washington, Haliaetus washingtoni^[2]
Blue-browed fig parrot
Blue Mountain warbler, Sylvia montana^[2]
Blue-thighed lory, Lorius tibialis
Dominican green-and-yellow macaw, Ara atwoodi
Carbonated warbler, Sylvia carbonata^[2]
Cuvier’s kinglet, Regulus cuvieri^[2]
Geoffroyus aureus
Guadeloupe amazon, Amazona violacea
Guadeloupe parakeet, Psittacara labati
Hypothetical relatives of the Rodrigues parrot
Jago fowl, Gallus giganteus
Jamaican red macaw, Ara gossei
Leguat’s giant, Leguatia gigantea
Lesser Antillean macaw, Ara guadeloupensis
Madeira finch, Goniaphea leucocephala
Martinique amazon, Amazona martinicana
Martinique macaw, Ara martinicus
Meidum geese
Painted vulture, Sarcoramphus sacra/Sarcoramphus papa ssp.
Raiatea starling, Aplonis? ulietensis
Red-headed macaw, Ara erythrocephala
Roper River scrub robin, Drymodes superciliaris colcloughi
Réunion swamphen, Porphyrio caerulescens
Small-headed flycatcher, Muscicapa minuta^[2]
Sushkin’s goose, Anser neglectus
Tahiti crake, Zapornia nigra
Tanna ground dove, Pampusana ferruginea
Townsends’ dickcissel, Spiza townsendi
Townsend’s finch, Emberiza townsendi^[2]
Unicolored lory, Eos unicolor
Unidentified Jamaican parrot
Zhenniao

Non-avian dinosaurs

Proavis (partim)

Mammals

Andean wolf, Dasycyon hagenbecki
Chilihueque, Lama araucana
Chinese elephant, Elephas maximus rubridens
Javan elephant, Elephas maximus sondaicus
Giraffa sahara^[3]
Kallana
Long-necked seal, Phoca mutica
Shrewdinger^[4]^[5]
Sonnerat’s shrew, Diplomesodon sonnerati
Steller’s sea ape, Simia marina
Sumxu
Unidentified extinct canid populations^[6]^[7]
Waitoreke
Zebro

Fish

Abyssal rainbow gar^[8]
Five-lined constellation fish, Bathysidus pentagrammus^[8]
Giant dragonfish, Bathysphaera intacta^[8]
Pallid sailfin, Bathyembryx istiophasma^[8]
Three-starred anglerfish, Bathyceratias trilynchnus^[8]

Arthropods

Other invertebrates

Plants

Laysan fan palm, Pritchardia? sp.
Silphium

References

^ Fuller, Errol (1987). Extinct Birds. Penguin Books (England). p. 131. ISBN 0-670-81787-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Lund, Nicholas (2015-09-14). “John James Audubon: Confused, Wrong, or Neither?”. National Audubon Society.
^ Solounias, Nikos (2022-09-27). Anatomy and Evolution of the Giraffe: Parts Unknown (PDF). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 1–6. ISBN 978-1-5275-8686-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-06-01.
^ O’Leary, Maureen A.; Bloch, Jonathan I.; Flynn, John J.; Gaudin, Timothy J.; Giallombardo, Andres; Giannini, Norberto P.; Goldberg, Suzann L.; Kraatz, Brian P.; Luo, Zhe-Xi; Meng, Jin; Ni, Xijun; Novacek, Michael J.; Perini, Fernando A.; Randall, Zachary S.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Sargis, Eric J.; Silcox, Mary T.; Simmons, Nancy B.; Spaulding, Michelle; Velazco, Paúl M.; Weksler, Marcelo; Wible, John R.; Cirranello, Andrea L. (2013). “The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals”. Science. 339 (6120): 662–667. Bibcode:2013Sci…339..662O. doi:10.1126/science.1229237. PMID 23393258.
^ Eveleth, Rose (2013-04-08). “There Is Now a Hypothetical Species Named Shrewdinger Because of You”. Smithsonian Magazine.
^ Gopalakrishnan, Shyam; Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S.; Ramos-Madrigal, Jazmín; Niemann, Jonas; Samaniego Castruita, Jose A.; Vieira, Filipe G.; Carøe, Christian; Montero, Marc de Manuel; Kuderna, Lukas; Serres, Aitor; González-Basallote, Víctor Manuel; Liu, Yan-Hu; Wang, Guo-Dong; Marques-Bonet, Tomas; Mirarab, Siavash; Fernandes, Carlos; Gaubert, Philippe; Koepfli, Klaus-Peter; Budd, Jane; Rueness, Eli Knispel; Sillero, Claudio; Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter; Petersen, Bent; Sicheritz-Ponten, Thomas; Bachmann, Lutz; Wiig, Øystein; Hansen, Anders J.; Gilbert, M. Thomas P. (2018). “Interspecific Gene Flow Shaped the Evolution of the Genus Canis”. Current Biology. 28 (21): 3441–3449.e5. Bibcode:2018CBio…28E3441G. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.08.041. PMC 6224481. PMID 30344120.
^ Wang, Guo-Dong; Zhang, Ming; Wang, Xuan; Yang, Melinda A.; Cao, Peng; Liu, Feng; Lu, Heng; Feng, Xiaotian; Skoglund, Pontus; Wang, Lu; Fu, Qiaomei; Zhang, Ya-Ping (2019). “Genomic Approaches Reveal an Endemic Subpopulation of Gray Wolves in Southern China”. iScience. 20: 110–118. Bibcode:2019iSci…20..110W. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2019.09.008. PMC 6817678. PMID 31563851.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Beebe, William (1934). Half Mile Down (PDF). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.

[rdp-we-cite_note-Fuller1987_p131-1] Fuller, Errol (1987). Extinct Birds. Penguin Books (England). p. 131. ISBN 0-670-81787-2.

[rdp-we-cite_note-Audubon-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Lund, Nicholas (2015-09-14). “John James Audubon: Confused, Wrong, or Neither?”. National Audubon Society.

[rdp-we-cite_note-Solounias2022-3] Solounias, Nikos (2022-09-27). Anatomy and Evolution of the Giraffe: Parts Unknown (PDF). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 1–6. ISBN 978-1-5275-8686-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-06-01.

[rdp-we-cite_note-4] O’Leary, Maureen A.; Bloch, Jonathan I.; Flynn, John J.; Gaudin, Timothy J.; Giallombardo, Andres; Giannini, Norberto P.; Goldberg, Suzann L.; Kraatz, Brian P.; Luo, Zhe-Xi; Meng, Jin; Ni, Xijun; Novacek, Michael J.; Perini, Fernando A.; Randall, Zachary S.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Sargis, Eric J.; Silcox, Mary T.; Simmons, Nancy B.; Spaulding, Michelle; Velazco, Paúl M.; Weksler, Marcelo; Wible, John R.; Cirranello, Andrea L. (2013). “The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals”. Science. 339 (6120): 662–667. Bibcode:2013Sci…339..662O. doi:10.1126/science.1229237. PMID 23393258.

[rdp-we-cite_note-5] Eveleth, Rose (2013-04-08). “There Is Now a Hypothetical Species Named Shrewdinger Because of You”. Smithsonian Magazine.

[rdp-we-cite_note-6] Gopalakrishnan, Shyam; Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S.; Ramos-Madrigal, Jazmín; Niemann, Jonas; Samaniego Castruita, Jose A.; Vieira, Filipe G.; Carøe, Christian; Montero, Marc de Manuel; Kuderna, Lukas; Serres, Aitor; González-Basallote, Víctor Manuel; Liu, Yan-Hu; Wang, Guo-Dong; Marques-Bonet, Tomas; Mirarab, Siavash; Fernandes, Carlos; Gaubert, Philippe; Koepfli, Klaus-Peter; Budd, Jane; Rueness, Eli Knispel; Sillero, Claudio; Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter; Petersen, Bent; Sicheritz-Ponten, Thomas; Bachmann, Lutz; Wiig, Øystein; Hansen, Anders J.; Gilbert, M. Thomas P. (2018). “Interspecific Gene Flow Shaped the Evolution of the Genus Canis”. Current Biology. 28 (21): 3441–3449.e5. Bibcode:2018CBio…28E3441G. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.08.041. PMC 6224481. PMID 30344120.

[rdp-we-cite_note-7] Wang, Guo-Dong; Zhang, Ming; Wang, Xuan; Yang, Melinda A.; Cao, Peng; Liu, Feng; Lu, Heng; Feng, Xiaotian; Skoglund, Pontus; Wang, Lu; Fu, Qiaomei; Zhang, Ya-Ping (2019). “Genomic Approaches Reveal an Endemic Subpopulation of Gray Wolves in Southern China”. iScience. 20: 110–118. Bibcode:2019iSci…20..110W. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2019.09.008. PMC 6817678. PMID 31563851.

[rdp-we-cite_note-Beebe-8] Beebe, William (1934). Half Mile Down (PDF). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.

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