Parrots, also known as psittacines (pronounced /ˈsɪtəsaɪnz/ ), are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes , found in most warm and tropical regions. The order is subdivded in three families: the Psittacidae ('true' parrots), the Cacatuidae (cockatoos) and the Nestoridae (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a pan-tropical distribution with several species inhabiting the temperate Southern Hemisphere as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is found in South America and Australasia.
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Most parrots are predominantly green, with other bright colors, and some species are multi-colored. Cockatoo species range from mostly white to mostly black, and have a mobile crest of feathers on the top of their heads. Most parrots are monomorphic or minimally sexually dimorphic. They are the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.
The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material, and a few species also eat insects and small animals, and the lories and lorikeets are specialised to feed on nectar from flowers, and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree holes (or nest boxes in captivity), and lay white eggs from which emerge altricial (helpless) young.
Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies, are some of the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some parrot species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pets. Trapping of wild parrots for the pet trade, as well as other hunting, habitat loss and competition from invasive species, have diminished wild populations, and parrots have been subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds. Recent conservation measures to conserve the habitats of some of the high-profile charismatic parrot species has also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the ecosystem.
Evolution and systematics
Origins and evolution
The diversity of Psittaciformes in South America and Australasia suggests that the order has a Gondwanan origin, while the center of origins appears to be Australasian. The parrot family's fossil record, however, is sparse and their origin can so far only be inferred.
A single 15 mm fragment from a large lower bill (UCMP 143274), found in Lance Creek Formation deposits of Niobrara County, Wyoming, has been suggested as the first parrot fossil. Of Late Cretaceous age, it is about 70 million years old. But subsequent reviews have established that this fossil is almost certainly not from a bird, but from a caenagnathid theropod—a non-avian dinosaur with a birdlike beak.
It is now generally assumed that the Psittaciformes or their common ancestors with a number of related bird orders were present somewhere in the world around the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, some 65 mya (million years ago). If so, they probably had not evolved their morphological autapomorphies yet, but were generalized arboreal birds, roughly similar (though not necessarily closely related) to today's potoos or frogmouths (see also Palaeopsittacus below).
Europe is the origin of the first generally accepted parrot fossils. The first is a wingbone of Mopsitta tanta , uncovered in Denmark and dated to 54 mya (million years ago). The climate at this time was tropical, consistent with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Later fossils date from the Eocene, starting around 50 mya. Several fairly complete skeletons of parrot-like birds have been found in England and Germany. Some uncertainty remains, but on the whole it seems more likely that these are not direct ancestors of the modern parrots, but related lineages which evolved in the Northern Hemisphere but have since died out. These are probably not "missing links" between ancestral and modern parrots, but rather psittaciform lineages that evolved parallel to true parrots and cockatoos and had their own peculiar autapomorphies:
- Psittacopes (Early/Middle Eocene of Geiseltal, Germany) – basal?
- Serudaptus – pseudasturid or psittacid?
- Pseudasturidae (Halcyornithidae may be correct name)
- Pseudasturides – formerly Pseudastur
- Quercypsittidae
- Quercypsitta (Late Eocene)
The earliest records of modern parrots date to about 23–20 mya and are also from Europe. Subsequently, the fossil record—again, mainly from Europe—consists of bones clearly recognizable as belonging to parrots of modern type. The Southern Hemisphere does not have nearly as rich a fossil record for the period of interest as the Northern, and contains no known parrot-like remains earlier than the early to middle Miocene, around 20 mya. At this point, however, is found the first unambiguous parrot fossil (as opposed to a parrot-like one), an upper jaw which is indistinguishable from that of modern cockatoos. A few modern genera are tentatively dated to a Miocene origin, but their unequivocal record stretches back only some 5 million years (see genus articles for more).
The named fossil genera of parrots are probably all in the Psittacidae or close to its ancestry:
- Archaeopsittacus (Late Oligocene/Early Miocene)
- Xenopsitta (Early Miocene of Czechia)
- Psittacidae gen. et spp. indet. (Bathans Early/Middle Miocene of Otago, New Zealand) - several species
- Bavaripsitta (Middle Miocene of Steinberg, Germany)
- Psittacidae gen. et sp. indet. (Middle Miocene of France) - erroneously placed in Pararallus dispar , includes "Psittacus" lartetianus
Some Paleogene fossils are not unequivocally accepted to be of psittaciforms:
- Palaeopsittacus (Early — Middle Eocene of NW Europe) - caprimulgiform (podargid?) or quercypsittid?
- "Precursor" (Early Eocene) - part of this apparent chimera seems to be of a pseudasturid or psittacid
- Pulchrapollia (Early Eocene) — includes "Primobucco" olsoni - psittaciform (pseudasturid or psittacid)?
Phylogeny
The phylogeny of the parrots is still under investigation. The classifications as presented reflects the current status, which is disputed and therefore subject to change when new studies resolve some of the open questions. For that reason, this classification should be treated as preliminary.
The Psittaciformes consist of three main lineages: Nestoridae , Psittacidae (true parrots) and Cacatuidae (cockatoos). In the past, the Nestoridae were considered part of the Psittacidae , but recent studies place this group of New Zealand species at the basis of the parrot tree next to the remaining members of the Psittacidae as well as all members of the Cacatuidae.
The Cacatuidae are quite distinct, having a movable head crest, a different arrangement of the carotid arteries, a gall bladder, differences in the skull bones, and lack the Dyck texture feathers which, in the Psittacidae, scatters light in such a way as to produce the vibrant colours of so many parrots. However, the actual situation may be more complex (see below).
Lorikeets were previously regarded as a third family, Loriidae, but studies using large amounts of DNA data place the group in the middle of the Psittacidae family, with as closest relatives the fig parrots (two of the three genera of the tribe Cyclopsittacini, subfamily Psittacinae) and the Budgerigar (tribe Melopsittacini, subfamily Platycercinae).
Systematics
The following classification is a version in which several subfamilies are recognized. Molecular data (see above) suggests that several subfamilies might indeed be valid and perhaps even be elevated to family rank, but the arrangement of tribes in these is not well resolved at present.
Family Nestoridae : The New Zealand parrots.
Family Cacatuidae : Cockatoos
- Subfamily Microglossinae
- Subfamily Calyptorhynchinae: dark cockatoos
- Subfamily Cacatuinae: white cockatoos
Family Psittacidae : true parrots
- Subfamily Arinae: Neotropical parrots, about 160 species in some 30 genera. Probably 2 distinct lineages:
- Subfamily Loriinae: Around a dozen genera with some 50 species of lorikeets and lories, centered in New Guinea, spreading to Australia, Indonesia, and the islands of the south Pacific.
- Subfamily Micropsittinae: 6 species of pygmy parrot, all in a single genus.
- Subfamily Psittacinae
- T
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