''Quercypsitta'' is a

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 ...

of prehistoric bird from the Late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

(''circa'' 37-34 Mya)

Quercy Quercy (; oc, Carcin , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and ...

phosphorite Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non- detrital sedimentary rock that contains high amounts of phosphate minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite (or grade of phosphate rock) varies greatly, from 4% to 20% phosphorus pento ...

s in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Known from rather fragmentary remains (some foot and wing bones for the type

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

''Q. sudrei'', three

coracoid A coracoid (from Greek κόραξ, ''koraks'', raven) is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is prese ...

s for the species ''Q. ivani''), it was described as a

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...

sufficiently distinct to be included in its own family, the Quercypsittidae. These birds apparently formed an early offshoot of the parrots which spread to Europe and became extinct in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

at latest. This coincided with a period of

global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture, especially during the 1970s, of imminent cooling of the Earth culminating in a period of extensive glaciation, due to the cooling effects of aerosols or orbital forcing. Some press reports in the 1970s specula ...

, when their relatives - the ancestors of the African and Asian parrots known today - had in the meantime settled the warmer areas south of the Quercypsittidae's distribution. The genus '' Palaeopsittacus'' is sometimes included in the Quercypsittidae together with ''Quercypsitta,'' but it is not certain that the former was indeed a parrot.Dyke, Gareth J. & Cooper Joanne H. (2000): A new psittaciform bird from the London Clay (Lower Eocene) of England. ''Palaeontology'' 43(2): 271-285. (HTML abstract)

References

Psittaciformes Eocene birds Prehistoric birds of Europe Paleogene France Fossils of France Taxa named by Cécile Mourer-Chauviré {{paleo-bird-stub