Ara (genus)

Taxobox
name = " Ara "

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image_width = 300px
image_caption = Blue-and-yellow Macaw (left) and Green-winged Macaw (right) at Jurong BirdPark, Singapore
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Psittaciformes
familia = Psittacidae
subfamilia = Psittacinae
tribus = Arini
genus = " Ara "
genus_authority = Lacepede, 1799
subdivision_ranks = species
subdivision = "see text"

"Ara" is a neotropical genus of macawscite book | first= Joseph M.| last= Forshaw| coauthors= Cooper, William T.|year= 1981|origyear=1973, 1978|edition=corrected second edition| title= Parrots of the World|publisher=David & Charles, Newton Abbot, London|id=ISBN 0-7153-7698-5|pages=p. 368] with eight extant (surviving) species and at least one extinct species.cite web | url =http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/psit.html |title = Zoological Nomenclature Resource: Psittaciformes (Version 9.004) |date =2008-07-05 |publisher = www.zoonomen.net ] Many of its members are popular in the pet trade, and bird smuggling is a threat to several species. The genus was defined by French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. It gives its name to and is part of the Arini, or tribe of Neotropical parrots. The "Ara" macaws are large striking parrots with long tails, long narrow wings and vividly coloured plumage. They all have a characteristic bare face patch around the eyes. Males and females have similar plumage.

Taxonomy

For many years the genus "Ara" contained a number of other species. Three genera have been split out from the genus, "Orthopsittaca", "Primolius" and "Diopsittaca". "Orthopsittaca" and "Diopsittaca" are two monotypic genera that were morphologically and behaviourally different, whereas the three "Primolius" macaws are three smaller green macaws.

pecies and subspecies

There are eight surviving species and one extinct species. The last confirmed sighting of the extinct Cuban Red Macaw was in 1864 when one was shot. Several skins of the Cuban Red Macaw are preserved in museums, but none of its eggs have survived.

The "Ara" genus is subdivided as follows:

*Blue-and-yellow Macaw, "Ara ararauna", (Linnaeus) 1758
*Blue-throated Macaw, "Ara glaucogularis", Dabbene 1921
*Military Macaw, "Ara militaris", (Linnaeus) 1766
** "Ara militaris bolivianus", Reichenow 1908
** "Ara militaris mexicanus", Ridgway 1915
** "Ara militaris militaris", (Linnaeus) 1766
* Great Green Macaw or Buffon's Macaw, "Ara ambiguus", (Bechstein) 1811
** "Ara ambiguus ambiguus", (Bechstein) 1811
** "Ara ambiguus guayaquilensis", Chapman 1925
*Scarlet Macaw, "Ara macao", (Linnaeus) 1758
** "Ara macao cyanopterus", Wiedenfeld 1995
** "Ara macao macao", (Linnaeus) 1758
*Green-winged Macaw, "Ara chloroptera", Gray,GR 1859
*†Cuban Red Macaw, "Ara tricolor", (Bechstein) 1811 (extinct)
*Red-fronted Macaw, "Ara rubrogenys", Lafresnaye 1847
*Chestnut-fronted Macaw or Severe Macaw, "Ara severa", (Linnaeus) 1758

Hypothetical extinct species

Several hypothetical extinct members of the genus have been postulated based on very little evidence. They may have been subspecies, or familiar parrots that were imported onto an Island and later presumed to have a separate identity. The only surviving remains of any of these populations is one leg bone from a bird that once lived on the island of Saint Croix.cite book |title = Extinct Birds |pages = p. 148–9 |first = Errol |last = Fuller | year = 1987| publisher = Penguin Books (England) |isbn = 0670817972]
*Martinique Macaw, "Ara martinica", Rothschild 1905
*Red-tailed Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, "Ara erythrura", Rothschild 1907
*Lesser Antillean Macaw, "Ara guadeloupensis", Clarke, 1905
*Jamaican Green-and-yellow Macaw, "Ara erythrocephala", Rothschild 1905
*Jamaican Red Macaw, "Ara gossei", Rothschild 1905
*Dominican Green-and-yellow Macaw, "Ara atwoodi", Clarke, 1905
*Saint Croix Macaw, "Ara autocthones"

Morphology and appearance

The "Ara" macaws are large parrots ranging from 46–51 cm (18–20 in) in length and 285 to 287 g (10 oz) in weight in the Chestnut-fronted Macaw to 90–95 cm (35–37 in) 1708 g (60 oz) in the Green-winged Macaw. The wings of these macaws are long and narrow which is typical for species of parrot which travel long distances in order to forage. They have a massive downward curved upper mandible and a patch of pale skin around the eye that extends to base of the beak. The skin patch bears minute feathers arranged in lines that form a pattern over the otherwise bare skin in all species of the genus except the Scarlet Macaw in which the skin in bare. In most species the bill is black, but the Scarlet Macaw and Green-winged Macaw have a horn coloured upper mandible and a black lower one.

The colours in the plumage of the "Ara" macaws are spectacular. Four species are predominately green, two species are mostly blue and yellow, and three species (including the extinct Cuban Macaw) mostly red. There is no sexual dimorphism in the plumage, and that of the juveniles is similar to adults, although slightly duller in some species.

Distribution and habitat

The "Ara" macaws have a Neotropical distribution from Mexico to Argentina. The centre of "Ara" distribution is the Panama and Colombia, which holds six species. Four species have widespread distributions in the Amazon Basin (and beyond), and the most widespread species, the Scarlet Macaw, is distributed throughout Central America and the Amazon. On the other hand the Blue-throated Macaw and the Red-fronted Macaw have tiny distributions in Bolivia. The overall range of many species and the genus as a whole has declined in historical times due to human activities. The Military Macaw is distributed from northern Mexico to northern Argentina, but the distribution is discontinuous, with populations in Mexico, a large gap, then in northern Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, then a small population in central Peru, and finally another large gap till the last population in Bolivia and Argentina. The Blue-and-yellow Macaw was expiated from Trinidad in the 1960s,Oehler DA; Boodoo D; Plair B; Kuchinski K; Campbell M; Lutchmedial G, Ramsubage S, Maruska E and S Malowski (2001). "Translocation of Blue and Gold Macaw "Ara ararauna" into its historical range on Trinidad". "Bird Conservation International", 11: pp 129-141 doi|10.1017/S0959270901000211] as well as retreating from northern Argentina, and several species apparently went extinct in the islands of the Caribbean.

The "Ara" macaws are generally fairly adaptable in their habitat requirements; this reaches its extreme in the Scarlet Macaw, which as suggested in its widespread distribution, uses most habitat types from humid rainforest to open woodlands to savannah. The only requirement is sufficient large trees, which is where they obtain their food and breeding holes. The other species are slightly more narrow in their habitat choices, but the need for large trees is universal. The Blue-throated Macaw generally inhabits seasonally flooded savannah, and the Red-fronted Macaw prefers arid scrub and cactus woodland.

Within their range, birds may travel widely seasonally in search of food. They do not undertake large scale migrations in the same way as neotropical migrants do, but instead more local movements amongst a range of different habitats.

Feeding and diet

Like all macaws and most parrots seeds and fruit are the major part of the diet of the genus "Ara". The particular species and range of diet varies from species to species. Unlike many birds macaws are seed predators not seed dispersers, and use their immensely strong beaks to open even the hardest shells. Their diet overlaps with that of some monkey species; in one study of Green-winged Macaws in Venezuela they shared many of the same trees as bearded sakis, although in some cases they ate the seeds at an earlier stage of ripeness than the sakis, when they contained more posion. [ Norconk, M; Wertis, C & W Kinzey (1997) " Seed predation by monkeys and macaws in eastern Venezuela: Preliminary findings" "Primates" 38 (2): 177-184 doi|10.1007/BF02382007] In order to deal with the poisons seeds often have to protect them, macaws, like other parrots, consume clay which both releases minerals and absorbs toxic compounds from the gut. [Diamond, J (1999). "Evolutionary biology: Dirty eating for healthy living" "Nature" 400(6740): 120-121]

Breeding

Like almost all parrots, the "Ara" macaws are cavity nesters. The majority of species nest in cavities in trees, either a live or dead. Natural holes in trees may be used, particularly those in dead trees, otherwise holes created by other species; in Mexico Military macaws still use the cavities excavated by the now critically endangered Imperial Woodpecker. In addition to nesting in trees the Military Macaw and Green-winged Macaw will also nest in natural fissures in cliffs. This nesting habitat is the only one used by the Red-fronted Macaws, as sufficiently large enough trees are absent in its arid range.Lanning, D (1991) " [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v103n03/p0357-p0365.pdf Distribution and breeding biology of the Red-fronted Macaw] ". "Wilson Bulletin" 103 (3): 357-365 ]

pecies

Hypothetical extinct species

References

ee also

*List of macaws

External links

* [http://www.bluemacaws.org/images/blue124.jpg"Ara tricolor" skin] .