Brotogerini, Smith & Thom & Joseph, 2024

Smith, Brian Tilston, Thom, Gregory & Joseph, Leo, 2024, Revised Evolutionary And Taxonomic Synthesis For Parrots (Order: Psittaciformes) Guided By Phylogenomic Analysis, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2024 (468), pp. 1-87 : 29-30

Androglossini and Brotogerini

The next clade to be discussed is diverse, consisting of the amazons and their allies, and has mostly been termed the Androglossini in recent literature (e.g., Joseph et al., 2012; Schodde et al., 2013). We acknowledge the current literature on the correct family-group name for this tribe. Gregory and Sangster (2023) advocate Amazonini in contrast to Joseph et al.’s (2012) and Schodde et al.’s (2013) arguments for Androglossini. Schodde (accepted) has further contested the use of Amazonini in favor of Androglossini. Until this is settled, we use Androglossini.

More immediately relevant here, then, is that within the Androglossini there was a deep divergence dating to 25.6 Mya (17.7–29.9; fig. 1). The two clades resulting from this divergence are diagnostic with respect to their tail morphology. One clade comprises the genera Myiopsitta and Brotogeris , which have longer, attenuate or pointed tails that are atypical characteristics of the tribe. The sister clade, comprising Pionopsitta , Triclaria, Pyrilia , Hapalopsittaca , Amazona , Pionus , Graydidascalus , and Alipiopsitta , has species with mostly round and proportionately short tails. The relationship is supported in the species tree, but support for the node and inclusion of both Brotogeris and Myiopsitta varied depending on how strictly the sample retention was set. Interestingly, whole genome data from an exemplar from each clade ( Myiopsitta monachus and Amazona aestiva ) have diploid numbers of 48 and 70 ( Huang et al., 2022). This level of variation, due to the fusion of autosomal and sex chromosomes, is atypical for birds because avian karyotypes and genome sizes are generally conserved; birds usually have diploid numbers with a range of 76–82 ( Kapusta and Suh, 2017; Zhang, 2018; Furo et al., 2020). The two species of Brotogeris that have been karyotyped exhibit different diploid numbers ( B. sanctithomae 72 and B. versicolurus 82 chromosomes; de Lucca et al., 1991), indicating that extensive chromosome fusion may not be a general characteristic of the clade containing Brotogeris and Myiopsitta .

We are aware of no prior family-group name to accommodate the genera Brotogeris and Myiopsitta . In accordance with articles 13.1 and 13.2 of the Code ( ICZN, 1999) we therefore introduce a new family-group name at the rank of tribe for these two genera: