The mealy amazon or mealy parrot (Amazona farinosa) is among the largest parrots in the genus Amazona, the amazon parrots. It is a mainly green parrot with a total length of 38–41 cm (15–16 in). It is native to tropical Central and South America. This species, the southern mealy amazon (Amazona farinosa farinosa), the northern mealy amazon (Amazona farinosa guatemalae) are considered conspecific.
Taxonomy
A. f. guatemalae: Found from southeastern Mexico to Honduras. Also known as the northern mealy amazon, blue-crowned mealy amazon or the Guatemalan amazon.
A. f. virenticeps: Found in Nicaragua to western Panama. Also known as the Costa Rican mealy amazon or the green-headed amazon.
A. f. farinosa : Found in tropical Central and South America. Also known as the southern mealy amazon.
The mealy amazon was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Psittacus farinosus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The mealy amazon is now placed in the large Neotropical genus Amazona that was introduced by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1830. The species is monotypic. The specific epithet farinosa is from the Latin farinosus meaning "sprinkled with flour", referring to down feather § powder down.
Description
Note the characteristic mealy ("flour") texture over the back and nape of neck.
The mealy amazon has a total length of about 38–41 cm (15–16 in) and weighs 540–700 g (19–25 oz). Captives commonly are heavier. It is among...
