The identity of the mysterious “azara’s parakeet” sittace flaviventris

Abstract

Sittace flaviventris Wagler, 1832 was the name given to Azara’s No. 276 “Maracaná cabeza y encuentro roxos”, but since then the identity of the species has remained a mystery. Based on a tail-less domestic individual, it has most often been attributed to an aberrant Aratinga parakeet, and is currently considered a doubtful taxon. In this note the identity of “Azara’s Parakeet” is confirmed as Red-spectacled Amazon Amazona pretrei (Temminck, 1830), a species that still occurs today in the region from where Azara described it. Sittace flaviventris is thus a junior synonym of Amazona pretrei.