Ara chloropterus, G. R. Gray, 1859

Rodríguez, Oscar, Castillo, Leandro, Smith, Paul & Castillo, Hugo del, 2019, Status and distribution of Paraguayan macaws (Aves: Psittacidae) with a new country record, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 59, pp. 1-10 : 5-6

Red-and-green Macaw Ara chloropterus Fig. 8

First reported by Sánchez-Labrador ( Castex, 1968) as Guaa picta (Guaa pyta = “red macaw” in the Guaraní language), who described how the feathers of the species were used in indigenous ceremonies. He also makes reference to the fact that some people claim that the female is blue above and yellow below. Whilst he correctly clarifies that this description refers to the Blue-and-yellow Macaw A. ararauna , it is could be interpreted as a possibly very early reference to mixed species pairs between these species, a phenomenon that is well known today. Dobrizhoffer (1784) mentioned it by the name “quaá” or “quacomayo”.

Azara (1805) described it as his “No. 273 Guacamayo roxo”, adding that the species was “not abundant” and doubted whether it occurred south of 28°S. He provides reproductive details and relates an anecdotal account of a hunter Manuel Palomares who killed an individual in April 1788 and had its partner follow him back to his house in central Asunción, Central department.This provides the earliest date and locality for the species. This is perhaps relevant because it indicates a historic presence of the species in Central department. The species still occurs in Asunción to this day, though there has been a recent tendency to assume these individuals are escapes (as at least some probably are).

The species is widespread but at low density in eastern Paraguay, and of marginal occurrence, but frequent west of the Paraguay River in the Cerrados del Chaco and Pantanal, and more rarely in Humid Chaco. Published records exist from Alto Paraguay ( Podtiaguin, 1944; Hayes, 1995), Alto Paraná ( Podtiaguin, 1944), Amambay ( Podtiaguin, 1944), Caaguazú ( Brabourne, 1914; Hayes, 1995; Lowen et al., 1996), Canindeyú ( Podtiaguin, 1944; Hayes, 1995; Lowen et al., 1996; Mazar Barnett & Madroño-Nieto, 2003), Central ( Azara, 1805; Podtiaguin, 1944), Concepción ( Laubmann, 1939; Podtiaguin, 1944; López, 1992; Hayes, 1995; Robbins et al., 1999), Cordillera ( Rengger, 1835), Presidente Hayes ( Bertoni, 1930; Podtiaguin, 1944; Hayes, 1995) and San Pedro departments ( Smith et al., 2005, 2016). The Paraguayan locality (or localities) “Guacamayo, Alto Paraná ” listed by Naumburg (1930) for this species cannot be traced, and may not be a locality at all given that guacamayo means macaw.

Additional unpublished records of note include a pair flying close to Puerto Naranjahai, Cordillera department (OR, 30 May 2015), confirming the continued presence of this species in this department, previously mentioned only by Rengger (1835) for near Piribebuy, and a pair crossing the Ruta Transchaco between km 120 and 130, Presidente Hayes department (Francisco Fraccia & Angel Brusquetti, 13 October 2009).

Details of specimens that we are aware of are provid- ed in Table 3.

Figures

Figure 8.Distribution ofRed-and-greenMacaw ArachloropterusinParaguay. Black dots: recent visual record, Red dots: historical bibliographic record, Green dots:specimen record.