Neotropical parrots | |
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Blue-and-yellow macaw | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Psittaciformes |
Family: | Psittacidae |
Subfamily: | Arinae |
Tribes | |
The neotropical parrots or New World parrots comprise about 150 species in 32 genera found throughout South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and the southern United States. [1] [2] Among them are some of the most familiar and iconic parrots, including the blue and gold macaw, sun conure, and yellow-headed amazon.
The parrots of the New World have been known to Europeans since Columbus remarked upon them in his journal in 1492. Systematic descriptions of the birds were first available in German naturalist Georg Marcgraf's Historia Naturalis Brasiliae published in 1648, and English naturalist Mark Catesby's two-volume Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands published in London in 1731 and 1743.
Several species and one genus have become extinct in recent centuries. A second genus is extinct in the wild. Over a third of the extant species are classified as threatened by the IUCN. A few of these are in imminent danger of extinction with fewer than 500 individuals in the wild or in captivity: glaucous macaw, Spix's macaw, blue-throated macaw, Puerto Rican parrot, and indigo-winged parrot. The chief reasons for decline in parrot populations are habitat loss through deforestation by clear-cutting, burning, and flooding by construction of dams, capture for the pet trade, and introduction of non-native predators.
The New World parrots are monophyletic, and have been geographically isolated for at least 30–55 million years by molecular dating methods. Though fairly few fossils of modern parrots are known, most of these are from tribe Arini of macaws and parakeets; the oldest are from 16 million years ago. They attest that modern genera were mostly distinct by the Pleistocene, a few million years ago.
Neotropical parrots comprise at least two monophyletic clades, one of primarily long-tailed species such as the macaws, conures, and allies, and the other of primarily short-tailed parrots such as amazons and allies. [3]
A new species, the bald parrot or orange-headed parrot, was discovered as recently as 2002.
Neotropical parrots belong to the subfamily Arinae [4] which along with the African or Old World parrots comprise the family Psittacidae, one of three families of true parrots. The taxonomy of the neotropical parrots is not yet fully resolved, but the following subdivision is supported by solid studies. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Schodde, et al. [11] recognize a division of the remaining genera into several distinct clades, indicating possible previously undefined tribes:
The Carolina parakeet, or Carolina conure, is an extinct species of small green neotropical parrot with a bright yellow head, reddish orange face, and pale beak that was native to the Eastern, Midwest, and Plains states of the United States. It was the only indigenous parrot within its range, and one of only three parrot species native to the United States. The others are the thick-billed parrot, now extirpated, and the green parakeet, still present in Texas; a fourth parrot species, the red-crowned amazon, is debated. It was called puzzi la née or pot pot chee by the Seminole and kelinky in Chickasaw. Though formerly prevalent within its range, the bird had become rare by the middle of the 19th century. The last confirmed sighting in the wild was of the C. c. ludovicianus subspecies in 1910. The last known specimen, a male named Incas, perished in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918, and the species was declared extinct in 1939.
The family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the 12 species of subfamily Psittacinae and 167 of subfamily Arinae including several species that have gone extinct in recent centuries. Some of the most iconic birds in the world are represented here, such as the blue-and-yellow macaw among the New World parrots and the grey parrot among the Afrotropical parrots.
The genus Nestor is one of the two extant genera of the parrot family Strigopidae. Together with the kākāpō, and the extinct parrots in the genus Nelepsittacus, they form the parrot superfamily Strigopoidea. The Nestor's genus contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island, Australia and Chatham Island, New Zealand, respectively. All species are large stocky birds with short squarish tails. A defining characteristic of the genus is the tongue, which is tipped with a hair-like fringe. The superficial resemblance of this tongue to that of lorikeets has led some taxonomists to consider the two groups closely related, but DNA evidence shows they are not.
The true parrots are about 350 species of hook-billed, mostly herbivorous birds forming the superfamily Psittacoidea, one of the three superfamilies in the biological order Psittaciformes (parrots). True parrots are widespread, with species in Mexico, Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, and eastwards across the Pacific Ocean as far as Polynesia. The true parrots include many of the familiar parrots including macaws, conures, lorikeets, eclectus, Amazon parrots, grey parrot, and budgerigar. Most true parrots are colourful and flighted, with a few notable exceptions.
Loriini is a tribe of small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries. The species form a monophyletic group within the parrot family Psittaculidae. The group consists of the lories and lorikeets. Traditionally, they were considered a separate subfamily (Loriinae) from the other subfamily (Psittacinae) based on the specialized characteristics, but recent molecular and morphological studies show that the group is positioned in the middle of various other groups. They are widely distributed throughout the Australasian region, including south-eastern Asia, Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Australia, and the majority have very brightly coloured plumage.
A broad-tailed parrot is any of about 35–40 species belonging to the tribe Platycercini. The members of the tribe are small to medium in size, and all are native to Australasia, Australia in particular, but also New Zealand, New Caledonia, and nearby islands.
Conures are a diverse, loosely defined group of small to medium-sized parrots. They belong to several genera within a long-tailed group of the New World parrot subfamily Arinae. Most conures belong to the tribe Arini, though Myiopsitta is an exception. The term "conure" is used primarily in bird keeping, though it has appeared in some scientific journals. The American Ornithologists' Union uses the generic term parakeet for all species elsewhere called conure, though Joseph Forshaw, a prominent Australian ornithologist, uses conure.
Spix's macaw, also known as the little blue macaw, is a macaw species that was endemic to Brazil. It is a member of tribe Arini in the subfamily Arinae, part of the family Psittacidae. It was first described by German naturalist Georg Marcgrave, when he was working in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil in 1638 and it is named for German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix, who collected a specimen in 1819 on the bank of the Rio São Francisco in northeast Bahia in Brazil. This bird has been completely extirpated from its natural range, and following a several-year survey, the IUCN officially declared it extinct in the wild in 2019. However, after over 20 years of conservation efforts, 200 macaws have been bred from just two parent birds, and 52 individual birds have since been reintroduced into their natural environment in June 2022.
Anodorhynchus is a genus of large blue macaws from open and semi-open habitats in central and eastern South America. It includes two extant species, the hyacinth macaw and Lear's macaw also known as the indigo macaw, and one probably extinct species, the glaucous macaw. At about 100 centimetres (39 in) in length the hyacinth macaw is the longest parrot in the world. Glaucous and Lear's macaws are exclusively cliff nesters; hyacinth macaws are mostly tree nesters. The three species mainly feed on the nuts from a few species of palms.
The blue-crowned parakeet, blue-crowned conure, or sharp-tailed conure is a small green Neotropical parrot with a blue head and pale beak native to large parts of South America, from eastern Colombia to Curacao in the southern caribbean, and to the northern region of Argentina. They inhabit savanna-like habitats, woodland and forest margins, but avoid dense humid forest such as the Amazon.
The thick-billed parrot is a medium-sized parrot endemic to Mexico that formerly ranged into the southwestern United States. Its position in parrot phylogeny is the subject of ongoing discussion; it is sometimes referred to as thick-billed macaw or thick-billed conure. In Mexico, it is locally called guacamaya ("macaw") or cotorra serrana. Classified internationally as Endangered through IUCN, the thick-billed parrot's decline has been central to multiple controversies over wildlife management. In 2018, the estimated wild population in Mexico was 1,700.
The nanday parakeet, also known as the black-hooded parakeet or nanday conure, is a medium-small, mostly green, Neotropical parrot native to continental South America.
Aratinga is a genus of South American conures. Most are predominantly green, although a few are predominantly yellow or orange. They are social and commonly seen in groups in the wild. In Brazil, the popular name of several species usually is jandaia, sometimes written as jandaya in the scientific form.
The golden parakeet or golden conure, or the Queen of Bavaria conure is a medium-sized golden-yellow Neotropical parrot native to the Amazon Basin of interior northern Brazil. It is the only species placed in the genus Guaruba.
The jandaya parakeet or jenday conure, is a small Neotropical parrot with green wings and tail, reddish-orange body, yellow head and neck, orange cheeks, and black bill, native to wooded habitats in northeastern Brazil. It is a member of the Aratinga solstitialis complex of parakeets very closely related to, and possibly subspecies of the sun parakeet.
The burrowing parrot, also known as the burrowing parakeet or the Patagonian conure, is a species of parrot native to Argentina and Chile. It belongs to the monotypic genus Cyanoliseus, with four subspecies that are currently recognized.
Psittrichasiidae is a family of birds belonging to the superfamily of the true parrots (Psittacoidea). It is a very small family, the smallest of the three families of the true parrots. It is divided into two subfamilies: Psittrichasinae and Coracopsinae, that contain a single genus each. The first contains a single species, native to New Guinea, and the second contains four living species distributed throughout Madagascar and other islands of the Indian Ocean.
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.
Androglossini is a tribe of birds belonging to the family Psittacidae, whose members inhabit the Neotropical region. It is one of the two tribes of the subfamily Arinae, next to Arini.