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1 July 2008 New evidence of Ara autochthones from an archeological site in puerto rico: a valid species of West Indian macaw of unknown geographical origin (Aves: Psittacidae)
Storrs L. Olson, Edgar J. Maíz López
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Abstract

The exinct macaw Ara autochthones, previously known only from a single bone from an archaeological site on St. Croix, Virgin Islands, is here identified from several associated bones from an archaeological site in south-central Puerto Rico. The species belongs to a distinctive intermediate size-class and was larger than the Cuban Macaw Ara tricolor. It is assumed to have been endemic to the West Indies, but prehistoric interisland transport of parrots by humans makes interpreting the natural distribution of the species impossible in the absence of fossils. Historical reports of macaws elsewhere in the West Indies are rendered dubious for the same reason.

Copyright 2008 College of Arts and Sciences University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
Storrs L. Olson and Edgar J. Maíz López "New evidence of Ara autochthones from an archeological site in puerto rico: a valid species of West Indian macaw of unknown geographical origin (Aves: Psittacidae)," Caribbean Journal of Science 44(2), 215-222, (1 July 2008). https://doi.org/10.18475/cjos.v44i2.a9
Published: 1 July 2008
KEYWORDS
Amazona
biogeography
extinction
human transport
parrots
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