''Psittacara'' is a genus of

parakeets A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple genera, that generally has long tail feathers. Etymology and naming The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflected in ...

in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

Arini. Species of the genus are found in Central and South America, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

and one species reaching the southern United States. Until 2013, all the species were placed in the genus ''

Aratinga ''Aratinga'' is a genus of South American conures. Most are predominantly green, although a few are predominantly yellow or orange. They are social and commonly seen in groups in the wild. In Brazil, the popular name of several species usually ...

''. Many of the ''Psittacara'' species are kept in

aviculture Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds, especially of wild birds in captivity. Types There are various reasons that people get involved in aviculture. Some people breed birds to preserve a species. Some people breed parrots ...

or as

companion parrot A companion parrot is a parrot kept as a pet that interacts abundantly with its human counterpart. Generally, most species of parrot can make excellent companions, but must be carefully managed around other common pet species like dogs and cats a ...

s, where they are commonly known as

conure Conures are a diverse, loosely defined group of small to medium-sized parrots. They belong to several genera within a long-tailed group of the New World parrot subfamily Arinae. The term "conure" is used primarily in bird keeping, though it has ...

Taxonomy

The members of this

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

were formerly placed in the genus ''

''.

Molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies had found that ''Aratinga'' was non-

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

so in order to create monophylectic genera James Van Remsen Jr. and collaborators proposed in 2013 that ''Aratinga'' should be split and a group of species moved to the resurrected genus ''Psittacara''. The genus had been introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist

Nicholas Aylward Vigors Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Irish zoologist and politician. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system. Early life Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow on 1785 a ...

with the

white-eyed parakeet The white-eyed parakeet or white-eyed conure (''Psittacara leucophthalmus'') is a small green Neotropical parrot native to South America. Taxonomy First described by German zoologist Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller in 1776, its specific epithet ...

as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...

Species

The genus contains 13 species including one which is now extinct: *

Green parakeet The green parakeet (''Psittacara holochlorus'') is a medium-sized parrot occurring in North and Central America, from the southernmost tip of Texas south to northern Nicaragua. Description The green parakeet is 32 cm in length, and is mos ...

(''Psittacara holochlorus'') *

Socorro parakeet The Socorro parakeet (''Psittacara brevipes'') is a species of parrot endemic to Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico. Some ornithologists consider it to be a subspecies of the green parakeet (''Psittacara holochlorus''). Its natur ...

(''Psittacara brevipes'') – formerly a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

of the green parakeet * Red-throated parakeet (''Psittacara rubritorquis'') * Pacific parakeet (''Psittacara strenuus'') * Scarlet-fronted parakeet (''Psittacara wagleri'') *

Cordilleran parakeet The Cordilleran parakeet (''Psittacara frontatus'') is a long-tailed South American species of parrot. It is found from western Ecuador to southern Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist ...

(''Psittacara frontatus'') – formerly a subspecies of the scarlet-fronted parakeet *

Mitred parakeet The mitred parakeet (''Psittacara mitratus''), also known as the mitred conure in aviculture, is a species of green and red parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is native to the forests and woodlands in the Andes from north-central Peru, south th ...

(''Psittacara mitratus'') *

Red-masked parakeet The red-masked parakeet (''Psittacara erythrogenys'')DNA-sequence data require revision of the parrot genus Aratinga (Aves: Psittacidae) J.V. Remsen, Jr., Erin E. Schirtzinger, Anna Ferraroni, Luís Fábio Silveira & Timothy F. Wright is a medium ...

(''Psittacara erythrogenys'') *

Finsch's parakeet The crimson-fronted parakeet (''Psittacara finschi''), also known as Finsch's parakeet or Finsch's conure, is a small green Neotropical parrot. It is found in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and western Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tro ...

(''Psittacara finschi'') *

White-eyed parakeet The white-eyed parakeet or white-eyed conure (''Psittacara leucophthalmus'') is a small green Neotropical parrot native to South America. Taxonomy First described by German zoologist Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller in 1776, its specific epithet ...

(''Psittacara leucophthalmus'') * Cuban parakeet (''Psittacara euops'') * Hispaniolan parakeet (''Psittacara chloropterus'') *

Puerto Rican parakeet The Puerto Rican parakeet or Puerto Rican conure (''Psittacara maugei'') is an extinct species of parrot that was found on Mona Island and possibly in Puerto Rico. Description The bird was similar to the Hispaniolan parakeet (''Psittacara chlo ...

(''Psittacara maugei'')

Hypothetical species

* Guadeloupe parakeet (''Psittacara labati'') **

Jean-Baptiste Labat Jean-Baptiste Labat (sometimes called, simply, Père Labat) (1663 – 6 January 1738) was a French clergyman, botanist, writer, explorer, ethnographer, soldier, engineer, and landowner. Life Labat was born and died in Paris. He entered the ...

described a population of small parrots living on

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label= Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands— Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and ...

, which have been postulated to be a separate species based on little evidence. They were originally named ''Conurus labati'', but no specimens or remains of these parrots exist. Their taxonomy may never be fully elucidated, and so their postulated status as a separate species is hypothetical.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14623991 Bird genera Arini (tribe)