Karyotype description of two Neotropical Psittacidae species: the endangered Hyacinth Macaw, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, and the Hawk-headed Parrot, Deroptyus accipitrinus (Psittaciformes: Aves), and its significance for conservation plans

Abstract

Neotropical parrots are among the most threatened groups of birds in the world, and many species are facing extinction in a near future. At the same time, the taxonomic position of many species remains unclear. Karyotype analysis has been used to elucidate the phylogenetic status of many bird groups, also providing important information for both in situ and ex situ conservation plans. The objective of the present study was to describe for the first time the karyotypes of the endangered Hyacinth Macaw, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, and of the Hawk-headed Parrot, Deroptyus accipitrinus. A diploid number of 2n = 70 and a karyotype similar to the main pattern previously found for the genera Ara, Cyanopsitta, Aratinga, Propyrrhura, Pionites, Pionopsitta, Nandayus, and Guaruba were found for both species. These karyotype descriptions can be a starting point for the genetic monitoring of these two declining species.

The karyotype of the critically endangered Lear's macaw, Anodorhynchus leari Bonaparte 1856 (Aves, Psittaciformes)

“…The karyotypes of these two Anodorhynchus species are similar to those described for members of the genera Cyanopsitta, Propyrrhura, Aratinga, Pionites, Pionopsitta, Nandayus and Guaruba, distinguished by a conserved metacentric pair 1, pairs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 varying from submetacentric to subtelocentric, pairs 7 and 8 varying from metacentric to submetacentric, and pairs 9, 10 and 11 varying from metacentric to telocentric (De Lucca, 1984;Van Dongen and De Boer, 1984;De Lucca et al, 1991;Duarte and Giannoni, 1990;Goldschmidt et al, 1997;Lunardi et al, 2003). The maintenance of the diploid number among these genera and the occurrence of variation of the centromeric position of the macrochromosomes suggests that in this group the main evolutionary mechanisms for karyotypic differentiation were inversions and/or translocations (De Lucca et al, 1991).…”

“…The karyotype of A. leari was similar to that of A. hyacinthinus described by Lunardi et al (2003), divergence being related to chromosome pairs 5, 6 and 9 which were classified as submetacentric in A. hyacinthinus by Lunardi et al (2003) while in A. leari they are classified as subtelocentric. These divergencies are probably related to the methodology used to classify the chromosomes, because, visually, they have the same morphology on both species.…”

“…In this paper we describe for the first time the karyotype of Lear's macaw and compare this karyotype with that recently published for A. hyacinthinus (Lunardi et al, 2003).…”

Chromosomal Evolution in Psittaciformes. Revisited

“…The monotypic genus Triclaria malachitacea and Aratinga finschi, described in this report, are integrated in this karyological group, where we may include the genera; Anodorhynchus (Lunardi et al, 2003), Ara (Francisco & Galetti J., 2001;Van Dongen & De Boer, 1984), Cyanopsitta (Duarte & Giannoni, 1990), Aratinga (De Lucca, 1974, 1984Goldschmidt et al, 1997;This report), Guarouba (Goldschmidt et al, 1997), Nandayus, (Francisco & Galetti J., 2001), Propyrrhura (Francisco & Galetti J., 2001), Pionites (Francisco, Lunardi, & Galetti Jr., 2001), ijb.ccsenet.org International Journal of Biology Vol. 8, No.…”

“…8, No. 4; Pionopsitta , Deroptyus (Lunardi et al, 2003), Brotogeris (De Lucca et al, 1991;De Lucca, 1985) and Pyrrhura (De Lucca et al, 1991;Valentine, 1987).…”