 The Mascarene parrot was therefore interpreted as having descended from an ancestral lineage of Alexandrine parakeets that had dispersed from Asia towards the Mascarene islands across the Indian Ocean.The researchers suggested that the 2011 genetic study had probably used a composite of sequences from two other parrot species sampled for the study (including a lesser vasa parrot), a result of contamination during laboratory procedures.The 2017 study also found that the parrots of the genus "Tanygnathus" were grouped among "Psittacula" parrots, and proposed that"Tanygnathus" and "Mascarinus" should therefore be merged into the genus "Psittacula".