A new parrot taxon from the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico - its position within Amazona genus based on morphology and molecular phylogeny

Parrots (Psittaciformes) are a diverse group of birds, which need urgent protection. However, many taxa from this order have an unresolved status, which makes their conservation difficult. One of species-rich parrot genus is Amazona, which is widely distributed in the New World. Here we describe a new Amazona form, which is endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula. This parrot is clearly separable from other Amazona species in eleven morphometric characters as well as call and behavior. The clear differences in these features imply that the parrot could represent a new species. However, phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial markers show that this parrot groups with strong support within A. albifrons from Central America, which would suggest that it is a subspecies of A. albifrons. Taken together phylogenetic and morphometric analyses, we can conclude that the new parrot represents a recently evolving lineage, whose taxonomic status should be further verified. This lineage diverged from its closest relative about 120,000 years ago and was subjected to accelerated morphological and behavioral changes like some other representatives of the genus Amazona, which makes difficult to establish its taxonomic status and need further studies. Our phylogenies, which are so far the most comprehensive for Amazona taxa enabled us to consider the most feasible scenarios about parrot colonization of the Greater and Lesser Antilles and Central America from South America mainland. The molecular dating of these migrations and diversification rate were correlated with climatic and geological events in the last 5 million years giving an interesting insight into Amazon parrot phylogeography and evolution in general. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 PeerJ reviewing PDF | (2016:11:14707:1:1:REVIEW 20 Feb 2017) Manuscript to be reviewed