 In 2012, Hume expressed surprise at these findings due to the anatomical similarities between the Mascarene parrot and other parrots from the Mascarene islands that are believed to be psittaculines.He also pointed out that there is no fossil evidence found on other islands to support the hypothesis that the species evolved elsewhere before reaching Réunion.In 2017, Lars Podsiadlowski and colleagues sampled the Vienna specimen for a new genetic study and found that the Mascarene parrot was indeed part of the "Psittacula" group as suggested by Hume, clustering with the extinct Seychelles parakeet ("P. wardi") and Asian subspecies of the Alexandrine parakeet ("P. eupatria").