Jamaican red macaw

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Jamaican red macaw
Ara gossei.png
Hypothetical restoration of a Jamaican red macaw by Joseph Smit, 1907
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
(disputed)
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Genus: Ara
Species:
A. gossei
Binomial name
Ara gossei
Rothschild, 1905
LocationJamaica.svg
Location of Jamaica

The Jamaican red macaw (Ara gossei) is a hypothetical species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that lived on Jamaica.

Contents

Possible depiction from 1765 Macaw in Jamaica.jpg
Possible depiction from 1765

History

The only reported specimen was shot on Jamaica around 1765, and was later seen by a Dr. Robertson when it was stuffed; the specimen has since been lost. Robertson sent a description of it to Philip Henry Gosse, who published his own description in 1847: [1]

Basal half of upper mandible black; apical half, ash coloured; lower mandible, black, tip only ash coloured; forehead, crown, and back of neck, bright yellow; sides of face, around eyes, anterior and lateral parts of the neck, and back, a fine scarlet; wing coverts and breast deep sanguine red; winglet and primaries an elegant light blue. The legs and feet are said to have been black; the tail, red and yellow intermixed (Rob.) [2]

Robertson stated the bird had never been seen or figured before, and that it was very different from any macaw he had ever seen. One 1765 illustration is thought to depict this bird, but has also been suggested to be an imported Cuban macaw. [3] The parrot was considered identical to the Cuban macaw by some 19th-century naturalists, but was given its own binomial by Rothschild in 1905. [1]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guadeloupe amazon</span> Hypothetical extinct species of parrot from the Caribbean

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The Arini tribe of the neotropical parrots is a monophyletic clade of macaws and parakeets characterized by colorful plumage and long, tapering tails. They occur throughout Mexico, Central America, and South America, the Caribbean and the southern United States. One genus and several species are extinct; another genus is extinct in the wild. Two species are known only through subfossil remains. About a dozen hypothetical extinct species have been described, native to the Caribbean area. Among the Arini are some of the rarest birds in the world, such as Spix's macaw, which is extinct in the wild – fewer than 100 specimens survive in captivity. It also contains the largest flighted parrot in the world, the hyacinth macaw. Some species, such as the blue-and-yellow macaw and sun conure are popular pet parrots.

References

  1. 1 2 Hume, J. P.; Walters, M. (2012). Extinct Birds. A & C Black. ISBN   978-1408157251.
  2. "Extinct birds : An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times : That is, within the last six or seven hundred years : To which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction". 1907.
  3. Olson, S. L.; E. J. Maíz López (2008). "New evidence of Ara autochthones from an archeological site in Puerto Rico: a valid species of West Indian macaw of unknown geographical origin (Aves: Psittacidae)" (PDF). Caribbean Journal of Science. 44 (2): 215–222. doi:10.18475/cjos.v44i2.a9. S2CID   54593515. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-25.
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