Lesser Antillean Macaw

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Lesser Antillean Macaw
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Subfamily: Psittacinae
Tribe: Arini
Genus: Ara
Species: A. guadeloupensis
Binomial name
Ara guadeloupensis
(Clark[1], 1905)

The Lesser Antillean Macaw [2] (Ara guadeloupensis) also known as Guadeloupe Macaw is an extinct macaw species from the Antilles island of Guadeloupe. It was first described in detail by Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre in 1654 and 1657 and later in 1742 by Jean Baptiste Labat[2]. This species was similar coloured like the Scarlet Macaw, however, it was smaller with a red tail and yellow wing patches. The Lesser Antillean Macaw was endemic to the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique which belong to the Lesser Antilles. Rothschild distinguished two different macaws, the Mythical Macaw[3] (Ara (sic!) purpurascens)[2] and the Martinique Yellow and Blue Macaw (Anadorhynchus (sic!) martinicus) [2] (Syn: Ara erythrura[3] , Ara martinica)[3] . Today it is barely identifiable whether these species really differ. By 1760 the Lesser Antillean Macaw was extremely rare and shortly after it became extinct.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Note on the Guadeloupe Macaw (Ara guadeloupensis)
  2. ^ a b c d IUCN Redlist - Ara guadeloupensis
  3. ^ a b c Greenway, James (1967): Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World, pp 314-315


[edit] External links

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