Kingdom Animalia Class Aves Family Psittacidae Rank Genus | Phylum Chordata Order Psittaciformes Species A. verreauxi | |
Scientific name Archaeopsittacus verreauxi Similar Primobucco, Psittaculini, Rhynchaeites, Psittacopasserae, Nannopsittaca | ||
Archaeopsittacus is a genus of prehistoric parrot. It is known from deposits of either Late Oligocene or Early Miocene age (c. 23 mya) at Verreaux near Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France. A single species, Archaeopsittacus verreauxi, is known.
The genus was apparently close to the Old World lineages of parrots and might conceivably be assigned to the modern subfamily Psittacinae - either in the strict sense (i.e. including the African parrots and possibly the Asian parrots and parakeets) or in the loose sense (including all psittaciforms except some or all of lories and lorikeets, cockatoos, Nestorinae, kakapo and Arini), despite its early age. Its lack of apomorphies prevents any better placement until more material is found.
References
Archaeopsittacus Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA