Great Green Macaw

SCI Name:  Ara ambiguus
Protonym:  Psittacus ambiguus Allg.Uebers.Vogel[Latham] 4 1 p.65
Taxonomy:  Psittaciformes / Psittacidae / Ara
Taxonomy Code:  grgmac
Type Locality:  South America, ex Levaillant, Hist. Nat. Perroquets, 1, p. 15, pi. 6 = northwestern Colombia by designation of Chapman, Am. Mus. Novit., no. 205, 1925, p. 4.
Author:  Bechstein
Publish Year:  1811
IUCN Status:  Critically Endangered

DEFINITIONS

ARA
(Psittacidae; Ϯ Scarlet Macaw A. macao) Tupí onomatopoeia Ará for the macaws, but also used in combination to indicate bird (e.g. Araçarí, Araponga). Arára is a general name for parrots. "PREMIER GENRE.  ARA. (Ara.)  Le bec gros et convexe; la mandibule supérieure pointue, recourbée sur l'inférieure, et mobile; la langue épaisse, charnue et arrondie à son extrémité; une place dénuée de plumes sur chaque joue.   ESPÈCES.  1. L'ara rouge. Ara Macao. XI, 250.  2. L'ara bleu. Ara ararauna. XI, 272.  3. L'ara verd. Ara severus. XI, 274.  4. L'ara noir. Ara ater. XI, 284.  5. Le petit ara rouge. Ara aracanga. XI, 259.  6. La perriche ara. Ara makawuanna. XI, 384." (de Lacépède 1799); "Ara Lacépède, Tableaux Ois., 1799, p. 1. Type, by subsequent designation, Psittacus macao Linné. (Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 50, pt. 7, 1916, p. 119.)" (Peters, 1937, III, p. 180).   
Synon. Aracanga, Araclanga, Ararauna, Hemipsittacus, Macao, Macrocercus, Maracanus, Paracus.

ambigua / ambiguum / ambiguus
L. ambiguus  doubtful, uncertain  < ambigere  to doubt  < preposition  ambi-  around; agere  to set in motion.
● ex “Grand Ara militaire” of Levaillant 1801, who was uncertain as to whether the Great Green Macaw was distinct from the Military Macaw A. militaris or just a constant variety (Ara).
● Despite an apparent series of transitional specimens between the Black-headed Greenfinch and the Oriental Greenfinch C. sinica, Oustalet 1896, still believed them to be two distinct spp. (Chloris).
● “Similar to S. r. rufifrons  ...  Distribution, — Probably Sikhim, Butan Duars, Assam, Naga Hills and Manipur” (Harington 1915) (subsp. Cyanoderma rufifrons).
● “While it is practically certain that this new bird is a conspecies of M. sclateri, the wide gap in the distribution of the two forms with no close relative known from the intervening area makes me hesitate to unite them at present” ( J. Zimmer 1932) (Myrmotherula).
● “Doubtful Toucan ... The species now selected is one I have never seen; but I have no doubt of its existence, and little of the accuracy of its delineation” (Swainson 1823) (Ramphastos).
● “This Bird is very nearly related to Trog. elegans ... These distinctions, although apparently trivial, having been observed ... in many specimens ... he is induced to regard the two Birds as being, very probably, specifically distinct” (Gould 1835) (Trogon).

SUBSPECIES

Great Green Macaw (ambiguus)
SCI Name: Ara ambiguus ambiguus
ambigua / ambiguum / ambiguus
L. ambiguus  doubtful, uncertain  < ambigere  to doubt  < preposition  ambi-  around; agere  to set in motion.
● ex “Grand Ara militaire” of Levaillant 1801, who was uncertain as to whether the Great Green Macaw was distinct from the Military Macaw A. militaris or just a constant variety (Ara).
● Despite an apparent series of transitional specimens between the Black-headed Greenfinch and the Oriental Greenfinch C. sinica, Oustalet 1896, still believed them to be two distinct spp. (Chloris).
● “Similar to S. r. rufifrons  ...  Distribution, — Probably Sikhim, Butan Duars, Assam, Naga Hills and Manipur” (Harington 1915) (subsp. Cyanoderma rufifrons).
● “While it is practically certain that this new bird is a conspecies of M. sclateri, the wide gap in the distribution of the two forms with no close relative known from the intervening area makes me hesitate to unite them at present” ( J. Zimmer 1932) (Myrmotherula).
● “Doubtful Toucan ... The species now selected is one I have never seen; but I have no doubt of its existence, and little of the accuracy of its delineation” (Swainson 1823) (Ramphastos).
● “This Bird is very nearly related to Trog. elegans ... These distinctions, although apparently trivial, having been observed ... in many specimens ... he is induced to regard the two Birds as being, very probably, specifically distinct” (Gould 1835) (Trogon).

Great Green Macaw (guayaquilensis)
SCI Name: Ara ambiguus guayaquilensis
guayaquilensis
Guayaquil, Ecuador.