Parrots (Aves, Psittaciformes) in the Pleistocene of Uruguay

Abstract

Cyanoliseus Bonaparte, 1854 (Psittaciformes, Psittacidae, Arini) is the most frequent parrot in the Pleistocene record of Argentina. It comprises three species: the extinct C. ensenadensis (Cattoi, 1957) Tonni, 1972 and C. patagonopsis Acosta Hospitaleche and Tambussi, 2006, and the extant C. patagonus (Vieillot, 1817). A complete list of the Pleistocene Psittacidae known at the present is given by Acosta Hospitaleche and Tambussi (2006) and Tambussi et al. (2007). Nowadays, the burrowing parakeet Cyanoliseus patagonus (Psittacidae, Arini) is found in Argentina and the center of Chile, occasionally reaching Uruguay in winter (Collar, 1997; Bucher and Rodriguez, 1986). This paper reports the presence of Cyanoliseus in the Pleistocene of Uruguay, the first fossil parrot recorded in this country; comments about the environmental are also reported.