Arini (tribe)

The Arini tribe of the neotropical parrots is a monophyletic clade of macaws and parakeets (commonly called conures in aviculture) characterized by colorful plumage and long, tapering tails. They occur throughout Mexico, Central America, and South America, and formerly the Caribbean and North America. 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 (see Extinct Caribbean macaws) have been described, native to the Caribbean area. [1][2] 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.

Molecular studies have dated the divergence of the Arini tribe from the ancestral neotropical parrots to late in the Paleogene period about 30-35 million years ago.

Taxonomy

The Arini are one of three recognized clades in subfamily Arinae of neotropical parrots in the family Psittacidae of Afrotropical and neotropical parrots, one of three families of true parrots.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mystery Macaws of the West Indies".
  2. ↑ Turvey, S. T. (2010). "A new historical record of macaws on Jamaica". Archives of Natural History 37 (2): 348–351. doi:10.3366/anh.2010.0016.
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