chemistry

Psittacidae

Psittacidae is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Psittacidae rather than just read about it. In short: The family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the 12 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Afrotropical parrots) and 167 of subfamily Arinae (the New World or Neotropical parrots) including several species that have gone extinct in recent centuries.

Key takeaways

Psittacidae belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Psittacidae to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Psittacidae from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the 12 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Afrotropical parrots) and 167 of subfamily Arinae (the New World or Neotropical parrots) including several species that have gone extinct in recent centuries. Some of the most iconic birds in the world are represented here, such as the blue-and-yellow macaw among the New World parrots and the grey parrot among the Afrotropical parrots.

Distribution All of the parrot species in this family are found in tropical and subtropical zones and inhabit Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean islands, and sub-Saharan Africa. Three parrots, one extinct and another extirpated, once inhabited the United States.

Evolutionary history This family probably had its origin early in the Paleogene period, 66–23 million years ago (Mya), after the western half of Gondwana had separated into the continents of Africa and South America, before the divergence of African and New World lineages around 30–35 Mya. The New World parrots, and by implication Old World parrots, last shared a common ancestor with the Australian cockatoos in the family the Cacatuidae approximately 33 Mya. The data place most of the diversification of psittaciformes around 40 Mya, after the separation of Australia from West Antarctica and South America. Divergence of the Psittacidae from the ancestral parrots resulted from a common radiation event from what was then West Antarctica into South America, then Africa, via late Cretaceous land bridges that survived through the Paleogene.

Taxonomy The family Psittacidae was introduced (as Psittacea) by French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. The recently revised taxonomy of the family Psittacidae, based on molecular studies, recognizes the sister clade relationship of the Old World Psittacini and New World Arini tribes of subfamily Psittacinae, which have been raised to subfamily ranking and renamed Psittacinae and Arinae. Subfamily Loriinae and the other tribes of subfamily Psittacinae are now placed in superfamily Psittacoidea of all true parrots, which includes family Psittacidae. The following phylogeny shows how the family Psittacidae relates to the three other families in the order Psittaciformes. The tree is based on the work by Leo Joseph and collaborators published in 2012 but with the choice of families and the number of species in each family taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), now the International Ornithologists' Union.

The family contains 179 species and is divided into 37 genera. Included are four species that have become extinct in historical times: the glaucous macaw, the Carolina parakeet, the Cuban macaw and the Puerto Rican parakeet. The following cladogram is based on a phylogenetic study by Brian Smith and collaborators that was published in 2023. In the analysis the genera Nannopsittaca, Bolborhynchus and Psilopsiagon were found not to be monophyletic. The number of species in each genus is taken from the IOC list.

Subfamily Psittacinae Genus Psittacus – African grey parrots (two species) Genus Poicephalus Genus Bavaripsitta† Subfamily Arinae Tribe Arini – macaws and parakeets Genus Anodorhynchus Genus Cyanopsitta Genus Ara Genus Orthopsittaca Genus Primolius Genus Diopsittaca Genus Rhynchopsitta Genus Ognorhynchus Genus Guaruba Genus Leptosittaca Genus Psittacara Genus Aratinga Genus Eupsittula Genus Thectocercus Genus Cyanoliseus Genus Pyrrhura Genus Enicognathus Genus Conuropsis† Tribe Androglossini – Amazon and related parrots Genus Pyrilia Genus Pionopsitta Genus Graydidascalus Genus Alipiopsitta Genus Pionus Genus Amazona Genus Triclaria Clade (proposed tribe Amoropsittacini) Genus Nannopsittaca Genus Psilopsiagon Genus Bolborhynchus Genus Touit Clade (proposed tribe Forpini) – parrotlets Genus Forpus Clade including Arini Genus Pionites – caiques (four species) Genus Deroptyus – red-fan parrot Clade including Androglossini Genus Hapalopsittaca Genus Brotogeris Genus Myiopsitta

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Psittacidae

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Psittacidae claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Psittacidae before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Psittacidae ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Psittacidae

In research: Psittacidae appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Psittacidae in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Psittacidae is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Parrots, Psittacidae, Taxa described in 1815, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Psittacidae outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Psittacidae in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Psittacidae means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Psittacidae out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Psittacidae in simple terms?

Why does Psittacidae matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Psittacidae?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Psittacidae.