Psittacidae
| Neotropical and Afrotropical parrots Temporal range: Eocene-Holocene |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Superfamily: | Psittacoidea |
| Family: |
Psittacidae Rafinesque, 1815 |
| Subfamilies | |
The family Psittacidae is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the approximately 10 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Old World or Afrotropical parrots) and 148 species of subfamily Arinae (the New World or Neotropical parrots), as well as several species that have gone extinct in recent centuries. Some of the most iconic birds in the world are represented here, such as the blue-and-gold macaw among the New World parrots and the African grey parrot among the Old World parrots. These parrots are found in tropical and subtropical zones and inhabit Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean islands, sub-Saharan Africa and the island of Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula. Two parrots, one extinct, formerly inhabited North America.
This family probably had its origin early in the Paleogene period (66–23 mya) after the western half of Gondwana had separated into the continents of Africa and South America, before the divergence of African and New World lineages c. 30–35 mya. It is estimated that the New World parrots, and by implication Old World parrots, last shared a common ancestor with the Australian parrots of Cacatuidae c. 59 mya. The data place most of the diversification of psittaciforms around 40 mya, after the separation of Australia from West Antarctica and South America. Divergence of Psittacidae from the ancestral parrots resulted from a common radiation event from what was then West Antarctica into South America then Africa via late Cretaceous land bridges that survived through the Paleogene.
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Wikipedia