Archaeopsittacus

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Archaeopsittacus
Fossil range: Late Oligocene/Early Miocene
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Subclass: Neornithes
Infraclass: Neoaves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Subfamily: Psittacinae?
Genus: Archaeopsittacus Lambrecht, 1933
Species: A. verreauxi
Binomial name
Archaeopsittacus verreauxi
(A. Milne-Edwards, 1870)
Synonyms
  • Psittacus verreauxii (lapsus)
    A. Milne-Edwards, 1870

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[verification needed] 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 conceivably 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 and lorikeets, cockatoos, Nestorinae, kakapo and Arini), despite its early age. Its lack of apomorphies prevents any better placement until more material is found.[2]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Etymology: "Ancient parrot from Verreaux". Archaeopsittacus, Latinized Ancient Greek, from archaios (αρχαίος) "ancient" + psittakos (ψιττακός) "parrot". Chosen by Milne-Edwards to denote the similarities to the modern genus Psittacus. verreauxi, Latin for "from Verreaux"[verification needed].
  2. ^ Mayr & Göhlich 2004

[edit] References

  • Lambrecht, Kálmán (1933): [Genus Archaeopsittacus] In: Handbuch der Palaeornithologie: 609. Gebrüder Bornträger, Berlin.
  • Mayr, Gerald & Göhlich, Ursula B. (2004): A new parrot from the Miocene of Germany, with comments on the variation of hypotarsus morphology in some Psittaciformes. Belgian Journal of Zoology 134(1): 47-54. PDF fulltext
  • 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


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