Carolina Parakeet (1 Viewer)

Kirchman, J.J., E.E. Schirzinger, & T.F. Wright. in revision. Phylogenetic relationships of the extinct Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) inferred from ancient DNA sequence data. Auk

Older abstract from here: We obtained the first DNA sequences from the extinct Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) and used these data to infer the phylogenetic relationships of this iconic North American parrot. We compared our sequences of the mitochondrial CO1 gene obtained from two C. carolinensis museum specimens to homologous sequences from individuals representing 44 species in 25 genera of Neotropical parrots (Tribe Arini), and four outgroups from Old World tribes of Psittacines. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses place C. conuropsis on a long branch, sister to a wellsupported clade of Aratinga parakeets that includes the most northern extant species of Neotropical parrots and species endemic to Cuba, Hispaniola, and Socorro Island. Our data do not support a close relationship with the Monk Parakeet (Myiopsistta monachus) with which C. conuropsis shares fully feathered ceres, a putative adaptation for cold tolerance. Based on the high level of sequence divergence from all sampled species (uncorrected P > 5.6%), we recommend continued recognition of the monotypic genus Conuropsis. Taxonomic revision of the highly polyphyletic genus Aratinga is needed.

Kirchman, Schirtzinger & Wright (in press). Phylogenetic relationships of the extinct Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) inferred from DNA sequence data. Auk. [abstract]

TiF

John Boyd (TiF):
www.jboyd.net/Taxo/changes.html [19 Feb 2012]
www.jboyd.net/Taxo/List12.html#psittacidae

John Boyd (TiF) uses the generic name Psittacara for part of the Aratinga, and he treats the name as feminine gender (as do others). Jobling, however, states that the name derives from Greek "Gr. psittake parrot; kara head". Gr kara is a neuter word, so if this derivation is correct, Psittacara ought to be neuter. The original author, Vigors (1825), gives no indication of gender that I can discern. But he does write about these birds having the French name Perruche-Aras. That would suggest that the derivation is from Gr psittake (or Latin psittacus) + Ara, in which case the whole name is feminine gender (because it ends with -a), as in prevailing usage.

Did Jobling miss this one, or is there another reason why the name has ended up as feminine?

Keith

Vigors , 1825 Zoological Journal [on a new genus of Psittacidae]
The original O. D. :
“These birds, although their cheeks are covered with feathers and they are thus brought within the circle of the Parrakeets, have yet the bill of the Maccaws; and by a greater or less nakedness of the orbits round the eyes they still further assert their affinity to them. From their osculant situation between the two groups, thus strikingly apparent, the species that exhibit these characters have received the familiar name of Parrakeet-Maccaws in our language, and of Perruche-Aras among the French Ornithologists….with a reference to the trivial name already bestowed upon it, I shall denominate Psittacara.”
(So Vigors Latinized Parakeets-Maccaws for the name) Or Perruche-Aras.

In the end of the volume is Corrections and Vigors says:
Dr. Spix, as published in his splendid work on Brazilian Ornithology….The same observations may he made respecting the group of Psittacara, characterized at Vol. II. p. 388, of this Journal. The species which compose that group have been referred to a new genus of that gentleman, under the name of Aratinga. Here again we may easily reconcile the apparent clashing of these two names. My group extends only to the South American species of Parrakeets, the orbits of whose eyes and a greater or less extent of ‘whose cheeks is naked: while Aratinga not -only embraces these, but includes a considerable number of the longtailed Parrakeets, which have the cheeks and orbits feathered, This latter group forms a very extensive division of the family, and is one which I had marked out for characterizing. If we limit the name of Aratinga to this latter group, and retain that of Psittacara to the true Perruche-Aras,‘we shall avoid all confusion in designating these divisions.

Vigors & Horsfield in Australian Birds in the Collection of the Linnean Society: “Neither has the recently-described genus Psittacara, V., or the Perruche-Aras of M. Le Vaillant, which connects the Maccaws with the present subfamily of Palaornina, been met with in that country. …The subfamily of Palaornina comprises, first, the ParrakeetMaccaws of South America, or the genus Psittacara,” (Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 15 (1827?) )

I think Mr. Jobling was having a little fun with his readers, he obviously is a fan of Jimmie Buffet. Parrotheads look it up. I think Mr. Jobling has done all of us a great service of putting all this bird name material together in one book. Mistakes in such a large project are inevitable and I hope Ms. Manchester can forgive him.

So the question is whether the Latin for the English word Macaws is male, female or neutral. The other question is what is the source of Levaillant’s Aras and is the latinization of that female neutral etc. I have seen Les Aras as a name for the group of birds Brisson names Ara, like l'Ara macao of Levaillant. I think Ara and Aras are different words.

Incidentally, 2012 is well on course to be The Year of the Dead Parrot: Kirchman et al, Kundu et al, Raisin et al...

Richard Klim said:

Incidentally, 2012 is well on course to be The Year of the Dead Parrot: Kirchman et al, Kundu et al, Raisin et al...

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Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue

mb1848 said:

So the question is whether the Latin for the English word Macaws is male, female or neutral. The other question is what is the source of Levaillant’s Aras and is the latinization of that female neutral etc. I have seen Les Aras as a name for the group of birds Brisson names Ara, like l'Ara macao of Levaillant. I think Ara and Aras are different words.

Click to expand...

Well, that makes things very interesting. Jobling states that Ara is a "Tupí onomatopoeia Ará for macaws", in which case it becomes feminine in generic names. However, the word ara appears in French dictionaries as the French for macaw. And the dictionaries state that in French it is masculine. If it French, the plural would be aras. I can't see evidence that it is Latin word (if we exclude Latin ara meaning an altar or monument). The ICZN Code states:

"30.2.1. If a name reproduces exactly a noun having a gender in a modern European language (without having to be transliterated from a non-Latin alphabet into the Latin alphabet) it takes the gender of that noun."

And the genus Ara is masculine, presumably for this reason, but not without controversy - see Alan Peterson's (http://www.zoonomen.net) nomenclatural comments about Ara chloropterus.

If Ara is masculine, then Psittacara might also be masculine? The two cases seem identical, and hang on whether Ara is interpreted as Tupí or French.

Keith

"If Ara is masculine, then Psittacara might also be masculine? The two cases seem identical, and hang on whether Ara is interpreted as Tupí or French."

I think Vigors made a scientific name out of Perruche-Aras meaning in French the Parakeet-Macaws. Aras meaning the plural of Macaw. And it should be male, following the ICZN.

Grrlscientist

Grrlscientist, The Guardian, 19 Sep 2012: Extinct Carolina parakeet provides glimpse into evolution of American parrots.

Blundering across this thread I have amended my MS entry for Psittacara to; "Genus Psittacula Cuvier, 1800, parakeet; genus Ara de Lacepede, 1799, macaw." Many thanks to MB1848.
Ara is a Tupi onomatopoeic autochthonym and, by its termination, should be treated as feminine. However, de Lacepede introduced the name in combination with a series of feminine autochthonyms (macao, ararauna, aracanga, makawuanna) together with two masculine epithets severus and ater.

Birdwatch

Birdwatch Listcheck article by David Callahan: Carolina Parakeet's posthumous position.