Falcons & Parrots

The 44 Orders

Paleognaths

Galloanserae

Metaves

Pelecanae

Charadriae

Passerae

PASSERIMORPHAE

CARIAMIFORMES

Cariamidae: Seriemas

2 genera, 2 species HBW-3

The seriemas have sometimes been considered Gruiformes, but genetic evidence points elsewhere. Hackett et al.'s (2008) analysis found them sister to the remaining three orders, while Ericson et al. (2006a) suggest they belong in the Falconiformes. Either way, they are next in the list!

Although there are currently only two species of Seriemas, they are a remnant of a much larger group, the Cariamae. Like the Cariamidae, these have traditionally been placed in the Gruiformes. Besides the Cariamidae, the Cariamae are thought to have included three now-extinct families: the Phorusrhacidae, Bathornithidae and Idiornithidae. The Phorusrhacidae are the well-known “terror birds” of ancient South America. See Alvarenga and Höfling (2003) for more on the Phorusrhacidae.

FALCONIFORMES

Falconidae: Falcons, Caracaras

11 genera, 66 species HBW-2

Falconidae tree The papers by Griffiths (1999) and Griffiths et al. (2004) do a good job of laying out the basic taxonomy of the Falconidae. The African kestrel clade was studied by Groombridge et al. (2002). Based on their work, Rock Kestrel must be split from Eurasian Kestrel because the Australian Kestrel is split. The Hierofalco complex was examined in detail by Wink et al. (2004a). In spite of sampling many individuals, they were unable to produce a clean phylogeny. Although this may mean some of the these species should be lumped, they believe the confused situation is due to ancient hybridization. Further analysis is required to sort out the Hierofalco complex. The order of Falco itself is primarily based on Wink and Sauer-Gürth (2004). The major clades are clear enough, but further work is needed to clarify some of the details.

Herpetotherinae: Forest-Falcons

Falconinae: Falcons

Caracarini: Caracaras

Falconini: Falcons

PSITTACIFORMES

Ericson et al. (2006a) suggest the parrots are sister to the passeriformes, as do Hackett et al. (2008).

The overall structure of the Psittaciformes follows Schweitzer et al. (2009), Wright et al. (2008), and de Kloet and de Kloet (2005). Christidis and Boles (2008) contains detailed information on Australian parrots. Brown and Toft (1999) provides further information concerning the Cockatoos; Groombridge et al. (2004) was helpful with the Psittaculini; the placement of the Ground and Night Parrots is inspired by Leeton et al. (1994). Tavares et al. (2006) gives a nice overview of the Arini, while Russello and Amato were followed concerning the Amazona parrots. Russello and Amato found that the for last four (possibly five) Amazona species, the genetic data does not seem to match existing subspecies.

The whole order is summed up in the following tree diagram.

Psittaciformes
Click for genus-level tree for Psittaciformes

Strigopidae: New Zealand Parrots

2 genera, 4 species Not HBW Family

I had earlier used the name Nestoridae, which seemed to be the most common usage for a family containing both Strigops and Nestor. However, both family-group names were introduced at the same time (Bonaparte, 1849), and they have normally been kept separated enough that the issue of priority doesn't arise. I don't have access to Bonaparte (1849), but Bock (1994) does not mention priority between them, listing them as Strigopinae and Nestorinae. Christidis and Boles (2008) also state they have equal priority. Assuming that is correct, the determination of priority falls to the first reviser. That's Bonaparte himself the following year, when he gave priority to Strigopidae by listing Nestorinae as a subfamily (1850, Vol. 1, p. 8).

Cacatuidae: Cockatoos

6 genera, 21 species HBW-4

The order within the cockatoos is based on Brown and Toft (1999). Note the position of the Cockatiel, which also received limited support from Wright et al. (2008).

Psittacidae: Parrots

79 genera, 350 species HBW-4

Both Schweizer et al. (2010) and Wright et al. (2008) identify 5 major clades in the Psittacidae: the vasa-parrots, Pesquet's Parrot, an Old World/Australasian clade (Psittaculinae), an African clade (Psittacinae), and an American clade (Arinae). Other than the sister relationship between the Psittacinae and Arinae, the relationships between these group remain uncertain. Possibilities include a sister relationship between the vasa parrots and Pesquet's Parrot, or that the vasa parrots alone are the basal group. Of the two main clades, Psittacinae/Arinae and Psittaculinae, the latter is slightly larger, so we put it last in the linear order.

The neotropical parrots, Arinae, fall into 5 subclades, but the relationships between them are not fully understood at this time. The various relevant papers give conflicting topologies. Accordingly, I leave them in a polytomy. The 5 clades are the Forpus parrotlets (Forpini); Brotogerini, Bolborhynchini, the parrot clade Amazonini, and a narrowly circumscribed conure/macaw clade Arini (Deroptyus through Orthopsittaca). The three trees in Wright et al. (2008) place Forpini in three different locations. They also find some evidence that the Bolborhynchini and Brotegerini tribes are sisters, and weaker evidence that the two together are sister to the Amazonini parrots. The papers by deKloet and deKloet (2005) and Tavares et al. (2006) give alternative topologies.

The ordering of the Brotegerini is based on Ribas et al. (2009). They found that the Brotogeris parakeets fall into two groups of 4 species each. Not surprisingly, the genetic distance between chiriri and versicolurus was fairly small, with the amount being consistent with treatment either as separate species or subspecies of a single species.

The Pyrrhura parakeets and the parrots from Pionopsitta to Pyrilia have been revised a bit using Ribas et al. (2005, 2006). In another paper, Ribas et al. (2007b) studied the Yellow-headed/Blue-fronted complex, but the relationships there remain confusing. Lastly, the ordering of the Pionus parrots reflects the results of Ribas et al. (2007a). The results also support a possible split of White-capped Parrot, Pionus seniloides.

The Aratinga parakeets do not form a monophyletic group. Some are more closely associated with the Black-hooded Parakeet than the other Aratingas. However, this has not been sorted out well enough yet to split the genus (see Ribas and Miyaki, 2004).

Both Schweizer et al. (2010) and Wright et al. (2008) also found 5 major clades within the Psittaculinae, although neither group included Pezoporus in their analysis. So where does Pezoporus go? Based on Leeton et al. (1994) and Miyaki et al. (1998), it seems to be sister to Neopsephotus + Neophema, and I treat all three as a single clade (Pezoporini). However, this is not as solid as it might be because neither included the Agapornini in their analysis, which Wright et al. had as sister group to Neopsephotus + Neophema. Assuming it is correct, we have 5 clades: Psittaculini; Platycercini; Pezoporini; Agapornini; Loriini.

The Psittaculini are basal to the others. It contains three main pieces, the pygmy parrots (Micropsitta), Alisterus through Polytelis, and Prioniturus through Psittacula. The arrangement of Psittinus and Psittacella is a bit uncertain, but they seem to group together.

Exactly how the remaining 4 tribes fit together remains somewhat uncertain. I'm following the Schweizer et al. (2010) topology, which is consistent with the MP analysis of Wright et al. (2008). The Bayesian analysis in Wright et al. gives a different arrangement.

Platycercini has two parts: Lathamus through Cyanoramphus and Northiella through Platycercus. All the genera of the second group are sometimes lumped in an expanded Platycercus. Finally, Melopsittacus and Cyclopsitta/Psittaculirostris are basal groups in the Loriini.

Psittrichadinae: Pesquet's Parrot

Coracopsinae: Vasa-Parrots

Psittacinae: Afrotropical Parrots

Arinae: Neotropical Parrots

Forpini: Forpus Parrotlets

Brotogerini

Bolborhynchini

Amazonini

The series of papers by Ribas et al. (2005, 2007a, b) and Russello et al. (2004) have done much to clarify the situation in the Amazonini. The Hapalopsittaca need further study, but I understand that is in progress.

Yellow-headed Complex The big issue here is the Yellow-headed Amazon complex—the last four species in the list. This group has long been controverisal, and although the taxonomy here is close to that of AOU, it is incorrect. The papers by Rusello et al. (2004) and Eberhard and Bermingham (2004) showed the Blue-fronted Amazon is a member of this complex. Ribas et al. (2007b) sampled many more of the South American birds in an effort to clear up the mysteries of this group.

As things currently stand, there are species divided into 14 subspecies: A. aestiva aestiva, A. aestiva xanthopteryx; A. auropalliata auropalliata, A. auropalliata caribaea, A. auropalliata parvipes; A. ochrocephala nattereri, A. ochrocephala ochrocephala, A. ochrocephala panamensis, A. ochrocephala xantholaema; A. oratrix “guatemalensis” (not formally described), A. oratrix belizensis, A. oratrix hondurensis, A. oratrix oratrix, and A. oratrix tresmariae. However, DNA tells a different story. I'm not entirely sure how the subspecies fit together as the parvipes clade and tresmariae were not included in the same paper, so I leave their relative position unresolved.

Most of the A. ochrocephala subspecies are very closely related to A. aestiva, including the A. o. ochrocephala from the lower Amazon (“ochrocephala”). Based on current information, these are too close and too mixed up to meaningfully separate. It makes sense to put them all into A. aestiva. However, the ochrocephala from Colombia and Venezuela are a different story. These birds appear to be basal in the Yellow-headed/Blue-fronted group. I think the ochrocephala type specimen is from Venezuela, so these birds keep their name (no nasty quotes around it). The Middle American subspecies currently in oratrix and auropalliata are fairly closely related, and can be reasonably grouped under A. oratrix. That gives us three species as shown in version one (the species names are in red). Some have argued that the Tres Marias Amazon should be considered a separate species, and version II shows how such a tree would look under the assumption that parvipes is closer to oratrix than to tremariae. The other Middle American subspecies seem to form monophyletic clades. If interbreeding is sufficiently limited, they too could be promoted to species status. Yet another option is to put them all into one species which would take the name A. aestiva, not A. ochrocephala.

Arini: Conures and Macaws

Psittaculinae

Psittaculini

Pezoporini: Ground and Night Parrots

Platycercini

Agapornini

Loriini: Lories

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