Alipiopsitta, Caparroz & Pacheco, 2006

Smith, Brian Tilston, Thom, Gregory & Joseph, Leo, 2024, Revised Evolutionary And Taxonomic Synthesis For Parrots (Order: Psittaciformes) Guided By Phylogenomic Analysis, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2024 (468), pp. 1-87 : 36

Alipiopsitta

Alipiopsitta xanthops was formerly placed in Amazona due to similarities in size, shape, and general plumage. However, phylogenetic work since the early 1990s shows that Al. xanthops was paraphyletic with respect to Amazona ( Birt et al., 1992) , which to our knowledge, has been confirmed by all subsequent molecular studies, including the phylogenomic data presented here. Further, comparisons of karyotypes in Arini showed high similarity between Al. xanthops , Pionus maximiliani , and Graydidascalus brachyurus , and indicated a sister relationship between Alipiopsitta and Graydidascalus ( Caparroz and Duarte, 2004) . That sister relationship was supported by DNA sequence data ( Russello and Amato, 2004) and our phylogenomic tree. Its continued placement in Amazona in some sources (e.g., Forshaw and Knight, 2010), likely an artifact of when the book was published, is unfounded. As noted by Caparroz and Pacheco (2006), Miranda-Ribeiro (1920) erected a new genus Salvatoria for xanthops to differentiate it from “true” Amazona , but this name was preoccupied by Salvatoria McIntosh, 1885 , a genus of polychaete worms. Accordingly, Alipiopsitta was erected ( Caparroz and Pacheco, 2006). Alipiopsitta xanthops is also polymorphic in that its plumage has green and yellow morphs. Such plumage polymorphism, excluding sexual and age-related dimorphism, is generally rare in parrots, other examples being Charmosyna stellae , Pseudeos fuscata , Amazona ochrocephala , and A. guildingii . There is no described geographic variation in Al. xanthops . As noted, Al. xanthops and G. brachyurus shared a common ancestor 7.8 Mya (4.1–10.4).