Primolius maracana (Vieillot, 1816)

Rodríguez, Oscar, Castillo, Leandro, Smith, Paul & Castillo, Hugo del, 2019, Status and distribution of Paraguayan macaws (Aves: Psittacidae) with a new country record, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 59, pp. 1-10 : 3-4

Blue-winged Macaw Primolius maracana Fig. 5

The first mention of the species in Paraguay is by Azara (1805) who described it as his “No. 274 Maracaná afeytado”. Ridgely (1981) described the species as “inexplicably scarce” in Paraguay. Published departmental records are as follows: Alto Paraná ( Podtiaguin, 1944; López, 1992; Brooks et al., 1993; Lowen et al., 1996), Amambay ( Ridgely, 1981), Canindeyú ( Ridgely, 1981; López, 1992; Mazar Barnett & Madroño-Nieto, 2003), Caazapá ( Madroño-Nieto et al., 1997; Velázquez et al., 2010), Concepción ( Laubmann, 1939; Podtiaguin, 1944; López, 1992; Robbins et al., 1999), Guairá ( Podtiaguin, 1944) and Presidente Hayes ( Bertoni, 1930; Podtiaguin, 1944).

Additional recent unpublished records of note are: Estancia Laguna Ciervo, Amambay department (OR, 24, 25 June 2016, 26 April 2017, 11, 12 July 2017) and Estancia Itabó Rivas, Canindeyú department (OR, 12 June 2015). There also exist several unpublished records from San Pedro department including: Rancho Zastrow Saba (HdC, October 2017), Estancia Alegria (A. Bodrati, M. Velázquez: 2001), Estancia Don Luís (A. Bodrati, M. Velázquez: 28-30 July 2002), Estancia Guyra Campana (A. Bodrati, A. Esquivel, M. Velázquez: 02-06 June 2002) and Rancho 75 (A. Bodrati, M. Velázquez: 14-21 July 2002).

A single individual flying with a flock of 15 Monk Parakeets Myiopsitta monachus in Asunción, Central department (Arne Lesterhuis pers. comm., 10 May 2010), was assumed to be an escaped bird by the observer.

The species is generally uncommon in Paraguay with most modern records coming from the northern and eastern Oriental region in the area of transition between the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. There have been no recent reports from the Chaco region, but the presence of the species on the east bank of the Paraguay River in Concepción department makes marginal occurrence in Presidente Hayes and Alto Paraguay departments possible.

Details of specimens that we are aware of are provid- ed in Table 1.

Figures

Figure 5. Distribution of Blue-winged Macaw Primolius maracana in Paraguay. Black dots: recent visual record, Red dots: historical bibliographic record,Green dots:specimen record.