Notes The Auk 119(3):815±819, 2002 Description of a New Species of Pionopsitta (Aves: Psittacidae) Endemic to Brazil RENATO GABAN-LIMA,MARCOS A. RAPOSO, AND ELIZABETH HOÈ FLING1 Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de BiocieÃncias, Universidade de SaÄo Paulo, Rua do MataÄo, Travessa 14, no. 101, CEP 05508-900, SaÄo Paulo, SP, Brazil ABSTRACT.ÐA new species from BrazilÐPionop- Bonaparte (1856) established the genus Gypopsitta sitta aurantiocephalaÐis described, which is easily to include only P.vulturina, on the basis of the unique distinguished from the other species of that genus by condition of total absence of head feathers in that its completely bare, intensely orange colored head. species, an arrangement later adopted also by many Specimens of this species have been historically authors (e.g. Cory 1918, Peters 1937, Pinto 1938, Gris- identi®ed as immatures of P. vulturina, which occur com and Greenway 1941). Griscom and Greenway in simpatry with P.aurantiocephala on the Middle Ta- (1941) pointed out the signi®cant resemblance in pajoÂs River and possibly on the Lower Madeira Riv- plumage between P. vulturina and P. barrabandi, er. The description of a new species of Psittacidae whereas Haffer (1970) considered P. vulturina arep- stresses the importance of new studies in the regions resentative of the superspecies P.caica. Some authors of the Madeira and TapajoÂs rivers. continued to use however the genus name Gypopsitta to refer to the single bare-headed species (Forshaw RESUMO.ÐEÂ descrita uma nova espeÂcie do Brasil, Pio- and Cooper 1977, Pinto 1978). Based exclusively on nopsitta aurantiocephala, que pode ser, facilmente, diag- plumage characters, Cracraft and Prum (1988) per- nosticada das demais espeÂcies do geÃnero pela cabecËa formed a phylogenetic analysis of the genus Pionop- nua corada de laranja intenso. IndivõÂduos desta nova sitta and suggested the following af®nities among espeÂcie teÃm sido, historicamente, identi®cados como the species: (P. pileata [(P.haematotis, P.coccinicollaris) imaturos de P. vulturina, que ocorre em simpatria com P.pulchra] [([P.barrabandi, P.vulturina] P.pyrilia) P.cai- P.aurantiocephala no meÂdio Rio TapajoÂs e, possivelmen- ca]). According to Cracraft and Prum's (1988) phy- te, no baixo Rio Madeira. A descricËaÄo desta nova es- logenetic scheme, which shows P. vulturina rooted peÂcie de Psittacidae reforcËaaimportaÃncia de novos es- P.barrabandi tudos na regiaÄo dos rios TapajoÂs e Madeira. within the genus as the sister-species of , there is no support for recognizing a separate genus The genus Pionopsitta Bonaparte, 1854 is composed for the former species. of eight known species (Cracraft and Prum 1988) al- Sick (1997) described the characteristic immature lopatrically distributed in Central and South Amer- plumage of P.vulturina as being a bare orange or or- ica: P. pileata Scopoli, 1769; P. haematotis Sclater and ange-tawny head sparsely covered with black bris- Salvin, 1860; P. coccinicollaris Lawrence, 1862; P. tles and lacking a collar of yellow-and-black feathers. pulchra Berlepsch, 1897; P. pyrilia Bonaparte, 1853; P. By recognizing those characteristics as an immature barrabandi Kuhl, 1820; P. caica Latham, 1790; and P. condition, Sick assumes that this plumage succeeds vulturina Kuhl, 1820. The last three species occur in that characteristically seen in young specimens of P. the Amazon basin. Pionopsitta barrabandi is distrib- vulturina, whose head feathers are green with a yel- uted along the western portion of the Amazon basin, low base. Similar conclusions, based on an analysis extending from southern Venezuela to northeastern of taxidermized specimens from Museu Paraense Mato Grosso (Brazil), and westwards as far as east- EmõÂlio Goeldi, were presented by Forshaw and Coo- ern Ecuador (Forshaw and Cooper 1977). Pionopsitta per (1977). Sick (1997) also states that birds with the caica occurs from southeastern Venezuela to Guyana, characteristic immature bare orange-headed condi- and in the Brazilian states of Roraima and AmapaÂ, tion were seen ¯ying in ¯ocks separated from adults. on the left bank of the lower Amazon River (Pinto Four specimens, identical to those described by 1978). According to Forshaw and Cooper (1977), P. Sick (1997) as immature individuals of P. vulturina, vulturina is distributed south of the Amazon River, were collected during a recent ®eld trip to the region from the Gurupi River to the Madeira River and of the Cururu-acËu River, an af¯uent on the right southwards as far as Serra do Cachimbo (Forshaw bank of the Lower Teles Pires River (headwaters of and Cooper 1977). the TapajoÂs) in southwestern ParaÂ. Besides the four specimens collected, several others were observed in 1 Address correspondence to this author. E-mail: the area along this river and farther south on the SaÄo eho¯[email protected] Benedito River, and each had an orange head. On the 815 816 Notes [Auk, Vol. 119 other hand, no black-headed specimens were ob- served or collected during the ®eld trip. Some of the specimens collected also had well-developed gonads and a well-ossi®ed skull, with no indication of being immature. Moreover, the analysis of several ornithological collections clearly showed all stages of plumage changeÐfrom young to adultÐin P. vulturina, with a gradual loss of green and yellow feathers and an immediate acquisition of black coloring by the bare skin of the head, none of the analyzed specimens presenting any signs of the ontogenetic gradation suggested by Sick (1997). The study of the museum specimens mentioned below, which included the holotype of P. vulturina deposited at the Museum fuÈ r Naturkunde (Berlin), along with collected specimens and ®eld observa- tions suggest that ¯ocks composed of immature specimens referred to by Sick (1997) were in fact members of a new species of Pionopsitta. Materials and Methods. The specimens analyzed in this article belong to the following collections: Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de SaÄ o Paulo FIG. 1. Holotype of Pionopsitta aurantiocephala (MZUSP); Museu Paraense EmõÂlio Goeldi (MPEG); (MZUSP 75188) showing overall pattern of plumage Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Ja- and main diagnostic characteristics of the taxon. neiro (MN); American Museum of Natural History (Drawing by Frederico Lencioni.) (AMNH); National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (USNM); Academy of Nat- ural Sciences (ANSP); Museum of Comparative Zo- Paratypes. 3 ology (MCZ); Natural History Museum, Tring MZUSP 75189: Male (right testicle 10 3 (NHM); MuseÂum National d'Histoire Naturelle de 4 mm, left testicle 9 4 mm), skull 95% ossi®ed, col- Paris (MNHN); and Museum fuÈ r Naturkunde, Berlin lected on 28 August 1999, skin prepared without (MFN). skull, carcass preserved in ethyl alcohol 70% v/v, A total of 74 typical P.vulturina (including the type same collectors and site. MZUSP 75190: adult female MFN 9825) and of 11 orange-headed specimens were (developed ovary), completely ossi®ed skull, sparse examined. The coordinates used to reconstruct the moulted feathers on neck, specimen preserved whole geographical distribution map (Fig. 2) of the two in ethyl alcohol 70% v/v, collected on 30 August species were taken from the Ornithological Gazetteer 1999, same collectors and site. MZUSP 75191: adult of Brazil (Paynter and Traylor 1991), or taken directly male (right testicle 10 3 3 mm, left testicle 7 3 3.5 from specimens' labels. mm), completely ossi®ed skull, moulted remiges, Morphological analysis focused on plumage col- wing-coverts and neck, preserved whole in ethyl al- oring and on morphometric characters (length of cohol 70% v/v, collected on 2 September 1999, same wing, tail, and bill). Color description was made ac- collectors and site. MPEG 18142: male, collected on cording to Smithe (1975). The ®eld works were per- 18 October 1960 by E. Dente on the Cururu River formed with written permission from IBAMA, no. (Cururu-ri River), an af¯uent on the right bank of the 144/99-DIFAS. Upper TapajoÂs River. Results. The analysis we performed indicates the Diagnosis. Pionopsitta aurantiocephala differs from existence of a new species of bird, described in the other congenerous species, except P.vulturina, by be- lines below. ing bare-headed and from P. vulturina by its orange Holotype. Pionopsitta aurantiocephala sp. nov. head (rather than a black head like the latter) and a MZUSP 75188 (Fig. 1). Skin; adult female with com- bare nape and head, whereas in P.vulturina the bare pletely ossi®ed skull; moulted feathers on head skin extends only to the region of the occiput. Pio- (``bristles''), lower and upper wing coverts, neck, nopsitta aurantiocephala does not have the unique pro- ¯ank, and breast; accumulated fatty tissue; carcass nounced yellow-and-black collar found in P. preserved in ethyl alcohol 70% v/v. Specimen col- vulturina. lected by R.G.-L. and M.A.R. on 26 November 1999, Measurements. Pionopsitta aurantiocephala and P.vul- on the left bank of the Cururu-acËu River (088559N, turina exhibit no signi®cant morphometric differenc- 0568409W), in the municipality of Jacareacanga, ParaÂ, es, except in relation to bill measurements in male Brazil. specimens (Table 1). July 2002] Notes 817 TABLE 1. Body measurements (millimetre) of Pionopsitta aurantiocephala and its neighbor species P.vulturina. Mean values with corresponding standard deviation in parentheses are shown in the ®rst line, with the range of values and samples sizes shown in the lines below. P. aurantiocephala P. vulturina t-test Measure- ment Male Female Male Female Male Female Tail 68.0 (5.29) 65.9 (2.92) 67.75 (3.76) 67.6 (3.74) t 5 1.36 t 5 0.77 62±72 63±69 62±74 62±72 P . 0.05 P . 0.05 (n 5 3) (n 5 5) (n 5 12) (n 5 10) Wing 159.6 (4.04) 154.60 (4.82) 152.38 (4.91) 149.96 (2.76) t 5 3.81 t 5 1.89 155±162 147±159 146±161 145.3±153.60 P .