Amazona vittata is a chordate, or more specifically a bird, in the Psittacidae family.

Amazona vittata is commonly known (its common name) as the Puerto Rican Parrot in English. In French (Français), Amazona vittata is commonly known as the Amazone De Porto Rico or Amazone À Bandeau Rouge. In Spanish (Español), Amazona vittata is commonly known as the Amazona De Puerto Rico or Amazona Portorriqueña.

Amazona vittata is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Amazona vittata's population trend was stable at last assessment meaning its population is neither increasing or decreasing significantly in the wild.

Species Authority: The species authority, or the name(s) of scientist(s) or person(s) who first described Amazona vittata is (Boddaert, 1783) (IUCN Red List).

Summary: [an error occurred while processing this directive] (Wikipedia).

Country Distribution: Amazona vittata is found in the following countries:

Puerto Rico (IUCN Red List).

Biome(s)/Ecosystem(s): IUCN lists the following as biomes for Amazona vittata: Terrestrial (IUCN Red List).

Major Habitat(s): 1.6 Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist
1.7 Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove
1.9 Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane (IUCN Red List).

Habitat: Amazona vittata is endemic to Puerto Rico (to USA), and once occurred throughout the forested parts of the island. An endemic subspecies on Culebra became extinct in 1912. There has been a drastic decline, which reduced the population to c.2,000 by the 1930s and an all-time low of 13 birds in 1975. It has been confined to the Luquillo Mountains since the 1960s, and the present occupied range of 16 km represents only 0.2% of its former distribution⁴. Conservation action has prevented the species's extinction, although recovery has been slow and the population remains tiny. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo cut the wild population from 47 to about 23. By the beginning of 1992, there were a minimum of 22-23 parrots in the wild and 58 in captivity, with a record fledging success in July 1992 taking the wild total to 39 or 40. In 2000 the parrot numbered 40 wild birds, plus 9 recently re-introduced birds and 100 in captivity (in two aviaries)⁶. In 2001, thieves broke into an aviary and stole a number of captive adults. In 2004, the wild population was 30-35 individuals⁷, and the long-term trend appears to be stable albeit with some fluctuations. (IUCN Red List).

CONSERVATION STATUS

Red List Category & Criteria: Amazona vittata is listed as CR D ver 3.1 (2001) (IUCN Red List).

Year Assessed: Amazona vittata's status was assessed in 2006 (IUCN Red List).

Assessor: Amazona vittata's Red List status was evaluated by BirdLife International (IUCN Red List).

Red List Evaluator: The Red List Evaluator for Amazona vittata is listed by IUCN as Butchart, S. & Temple, H. (BirdLife International Red List Authority) (IUCN Red List).

Red List Rational / Justification : Amazona vittata is listed by IUCN for the following: This species has (at least temporarily) been saved from extinction. Conservation action has increased the population since 1975, but it is still Critically Endangered because numbers remain tiny. (IUCN Red List).

Threats: 1.9 (Wikipedia).

Red List History: Amazona vittata was listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 1988 (IUCN Red List).

Data Sources for IUCN data: The following is a list of citations from the IUCN web site for Amazona vittata:

Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (compilers and editors) 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

Bird Reference Citations. The numbers inserted in the text accounts above (usually in bold) refer to references. For further details on these references, click on the BirdLife International link above to go to the specific species account on the BirdLife web site. In some cases, particularly in the taxonomic notes, the references are cited using the author names. Details for these can be found on the BirdLife International web site at the following two places:
For References from A–L.
For References from M–Z.

BirdLife International 2006. Threatened Birds of the World 2006. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/05/2006.

BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.

BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.

Collar, N.J. and Andrew, P. 1988. Birds to Watch. The ICBP World Checklist of Threatened Birds. ICBP Technical Publication No. 8. Page Bros. (Norwich) Ltd, Norfolk, England.

Collar, N.J., Crosby, M.J. and Stattersfield, A.J. 1994. Birds to Watch 2. The World List of Threatened Birds BirdLife International. Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd, U.K.

IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1986. 1986 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN. 1990. 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Scott, P. (ed.) 1965. Section XIII. Preliminary List of Rare Mammals and Birds. In: The Launching of a New Ark, pp. 15–207. First Report of the President and Trustees of the World Wildlife Fund. An International Foundation for saving the world's wildlife and wild places 1961–1964. Collins, London.

(IUCN Red List).

Links: IUCN Red List Profile for Amazona vittata (IUCN Red List).

Copyright mongabay.com 2006

Mongabay.com welcomes submissions of photos / images / pictures and additional information for this species