The blue-winged amazon (''Amazona gomezgarzai'') is a proposed

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

n species of parrot living in the Yucatan Peninsula,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It was described in 2017 in the journal ''

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''; however, its existence as a distinct wild species native to the Yucatan Peninsula has been questioned. A critique published in the journal

Zootaxa ''Zootaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists. It is published by Magnolia Press (Auckland, New Zealand). The journal was established by Zhi-Qiang Zhang in 2001 and new issues are published multiple times a week. ...

, identified numerous weaknesses with the description, and suggested that the most plausible hypothesis was that the two specimens on which the description was based, were hybrids.

Description

The proposed species was described as having an average body

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

of 25 cm and a body

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a Euclidean vector, vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weigh ...

of 200 g. It is characterized by distinct

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

, with males larger than females. Depending on the sex, wing length is 170–175 mm and the tail length is 84–90 mm. Most of the body is covered with green

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

. However, these parrots differ in size and detail of the colors of the

from other Amazons found on the Yucatan peninsula (i.e., the

white-fronted amazon The white-fronted amazon (''Amazona albifrons'') also known as the white-fronted parrot, or spectacled amazon parrot, is a Central American species of parrot. They can imitate a range from 30 to 40 different sounds. Like other large parrots, the ...

- ''Amazona albifrons'' and the Yucatan amazon - ''Amazona xantholora''). The

forehead In human anatomy, the forehead is an area of the head bounded by three features, two of the skull and one of the scalp. The top of the forehead is marked by the hairline, the edge of the area where hair on the scalp grows. The bottom of the fore ...

and feathers around the male's eye are red. In females, red feathers are restricted to the forehead.

Remiges Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

(primaries and secondaries) are blue and green. The tail feathers are green with blue and green tips and red spots on the inner side.

Call

They produce distinctive loud, sharp and repetitive sounds that resemble a

hawk Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...

, a natural predator of these birds. It is possible that this sound is used to alert other birds. The syllables are 3-5 times longer than those of white-fronted amazon and Yucatan amazon.

Behaviour

They live in groups up to a dozen individuals. Couples and their adult offspring tend to remain together as a group.

Taxonomy

Genetic analyzes based on

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

indicate close affinity with the white-fronted amazon and suggests that the blue-winged amazon could be a subspecies of it. However, this may be due to the introgression of mitochondrial DNA or too little variation in the loci examined. It is possible that the new species has evolved relatively recently (about 120,000 years ago) within one of the white-fronted amazon populations. The proposed species was reported as discovered in 2014 by veterinarian and researcher at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL), Miguel Ángel Gómez Garza, during one of his expeditions on the Yucatan Peninsula and was described by

Tony Silva Tony Silva, also known as Antonio H. Silva (born 1960) is an American aviculturist and ornithologist, and the author of books and articles about parrots. From 1989 to 1992, he was curator of birds at Loro Parque, the largest parrot park in the ...

and colleagues. The species has yet to be recognized by leading taxonomic authorities including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU), or the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

(AOS).

Controversy

One of the authors, Tony Silva, was prosecuted in Chicago in March 1996, because he attempted to illegally introduce hundreds of exotic birds to the United States from Mexico and Central America, and, the original collector was reportedly and assessor in 2019 of Roberto Chavarria Gallegos, the then director of Parks and Wildlife of Nuevo Leon, who was denounced for the supposed illegal acquisition of 6 flamingos for the Zoo "La Pastora" from a suspected phantom wildlife trader.

Description

Call

Behaviour

Taxonomy

Controversy

References

Further reading