Archaeopsittacus
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Archaeopsittacus verreauxi (A. Milne-Edwards, 1870) |
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Archaeopsittacus is a genus of prehistoric parrot. It is known from deposits of either Late Oligocene or Early Miocene age (c. 23 mya) at Verreaux near Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France. A single species, Archaeopsittacus verreauxi[1], is known.
The genus was apparently close to the Old World lineages of parrots and might be assigned to the modern subfamily Psittacinae - either in the strict sense (i.e. including the African parrots and possibly the Asian parrots and parakeets) or in the loose sense (including all psittaciforms except some or all of lories, cockatoos, Nestorinae, kakapo and Arini), despite its early age.
[edit] References
- Milne-Edwards, Alphonse (1870): Observations sur la faune ornithologique du Bourbonnais pendant la période tertiaire moyenne. C. R. hebd. Acad. sci. 70(11): 557-559. Fulltext at Gallica
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Etymology: "Ancient parrot from Verreaux". Archaeopsittacus, from Ancient Greek archaeo-, "ancient" + psittacus, "parrot" (chosen by Milne-Edwards to denote the similarities to the modern genus Psittacus). verreauxi, Latin for "from Verreaux".
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