Archaeopsittacus

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 near Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France. A single species, Archaeopsittacus verreauxi,[1] is known.[2]

Archaeopsittacus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Genus: †Archaeopsittacus
Lambrecht, 1933
Species:
†A. verreauxi
Binomial name
†Archaeopsittacus verreauxi
Synonyms
  • Psittacus verreauxii (lapsus)
    A. Milne-Edwards, 1870

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.[3]

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".
  2. Waterhouse, 2006
  3. Mayr & Göhlich 2004

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
  • Waterhouse, David M. (2006): Parrots in a nutshell: The fossil record of Psittaciformes (Aves). Historical Biology 18(2): 227–238, doi:10.1080/08912960600641224
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