Scarlet Macaw - Taxonomy and Naming

Taxonomy and Naming

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara Macao Linnaeus 1758) is a member of the genus Ara (Lacepede, 1799), one of 6 genera of Central and South American macaws. Carolus Linnaeus described and named the Scarlet Macaw in his Systemae Naturae in 1758. Protonym: Psittacus macao.

Two subspecies present differing widths in their yellow wing band:

  • A. macao macao South American Scarlet Macaw, the nominate subspecies
  • A. macao cyanoptera (Wiedenfeld 1995) North Central American Scarlet Macaw

The Central American scarlet macaw is larger and has blue on its wings instead of green.

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