Deroptyus, Wagler, 1832

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 : 39

Deroptyus

Deroptyus comprises one species, D. accipitrinus , whose placement at or near the end of linear taxonomic sequences (e.g., Peters, 1937; Forshaw, 1973; Forshaw and Knight, 2010) reflects either uncertainty as to its relationships or a hypothesized close relationship to Amazona . The species’ phenotypic uniqueness warrants comment. While dorsally its plumage is unexceptionally mostly green, uniqueness arises from the combination of the following: dark facial plumage streaked white, the yellow eye of adults, the feathers of the underparts and hind neck red or maroon with a terminal blue band, and the erectile feathers of its hind neck, which can be raised into a ruff, perhaps the only parrot to which this term could validly be applied. These combine to give the species its “hawk-headed” appearance. Its two conventionally recognized subspecies, D. a. accipitrinus and D. a. fuscifrons, occur north and south respectively of the Solimões/Amazon river system.

We have clarified here that Deroptyus is part of the earliest divergence in the Arini , as sister to Pionites on one of the two branches of that earliest divergence (fig. 9).