Red-headed macaw

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Red-headed macaw
Ara erythrocephala.jpg
Hypothetical illustration, John Gerrard Keulemans, 1907
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
(disputed)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Genus: Ara
Species:
A. erythrocephala
Binomial name
Ara erythrocephala
Gosse, 1847
LocationJamaica.svg
Location of Jamaica

The red-headed macaw or Jamaican green-and-yellow macaw (Ara erythrocephala) may have been a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that lived in Jamaica, but its existence is hypothetical.

Contents

Description

Rothschild based it on a description which a Mr. Hill had sent to Philip Henry Gosse:

Head red; neck, shoulders, and underparts of a light and lively green; the greater wing coverts and quills, blue; and the tail scarlet and blue on the upper surface, with the under plumage, both of wings and tail, a mass of intense orange yellow. The specimen here described was procured in the mountains of Trelawny and St. Anne's by Mr. White, proprietor of the Oxford estate. [2]

Ara erythrocephala could have been found in the mountains of Trelawney and St. Anne's Parishes, Jamaica. [3] It was described to have been found in the mountains, and presumably in forest as well. [4]

Extinction

It is believed that the main reason for the macaw's extinction was overhunting. [5]

The macaw is extinct, [4] and it is conjectured to have been hunted to extinction in the early 19th century. [6] It was a close relative of the Cuban and Dominican macaws. [6] Its existence is considered dubious today. [7]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International 2012. Ara erythrocephala. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded 2012.
  2. ↑ Rothschild, Walter (1907): Extinct Birds (Online-Version)
  3. ↑ "Ara erythrocephala". The Extinction Website. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Jamaican Green-and-yellow Macaw Ara erythrocephala". birdlife. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Wiley, James. The extinct macaws of the West Indies, with special reference to Cuban Macaw Ara tricolor (PDF). 2013 British Ornithologists’ Club. p. 137. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Jamaican Green-and-yellow Macaws (Ara erythrocephala)". BeautyOfBirds. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Hume, J. P.; Walters, M. (2012). Extinct Birds. A & C Black. ISBN   978-1408157251.


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