Cyanopsitta spixii

– Critically Endangered

Taxonomy

Kingdom:	ANIMALIA
Phylum:	CHORDATA
Class:	AVES
Order:	PSITTACIFORMES
Family:	PSITTACIDAE
Scientific Name:	Cyanopsitta spixii
Species Authority:	(Wagler, 1832)
Common Name/s:	SPIX'S MACAW (Eng) ARA DE SPIX (Fre) ARA À FACE GRISE (Fre) GUACAMAYITO AZUL (Spa) GUACAMAYO DE SPIX (Spa)

Assessment Information

Red List Category & Criteria:

CR D ver 3.1 (2001)

Year Assessed:

2004

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Evaluator/s:

Capper, D., Wege, D. & Butchart, S. (BirdLife International Red List Authority)

Justification:

Although this species is known from captive populations, the last known individual in the wild disappeared at the end of 2000, and the species may well have gone extinct, primarily through trapping for trade and from habitat loss. However, it cannot yet be presumed to be Extinct in the Wild until all areas of potential habitat have been thoroughly surveyed. Any remaining population is likely to be tiny, and for these reasons it is treated as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild).

History:

1988	-	Threatened (Collar and Andrew 1988)
1994	-	Critically Endangered (Collar, Crosby and Stattersfield 1994)
2000	-	Critically Endangered (BirdLife International 2000)
2002	-	Critically Endangered (IUCN 2002)

Geographic Range

Range Description:

Cyanopsitta spixii was known for over 150 years, from small numbers of traded birds, until it was traced in the 1980s to near the rio São Francisco in north Bahia, Brazil. Only three birds remained and these were captured for trade in 1987 and 1988. However, a single male, paired with a female Blue-winged Macaw Propyrrhura maracana, was discovered at the site in July 1990. A female C. spixii was released from captivity in 1995 and initially paired with the male. Unfortunately, the female disappeared from the release site after seven weeks and is suspected to have collided with a power-line². The wild bird was still paired with the female P. maracana in January 2000¹but almost certainly died towards the end of that year. In 2000, the total number of publicly declared birds in captivity was 60, but 54 of these were captive-bred⁴.

Countries:

Possibly extinct regionally:

Brazil

Population

Population Trend:

Habitat and Ecology

Habitat and Ecology:

It apparently requires gallery woodland dominated by caraiba Tabebuia caraiba trees for nesting, but feeds mainly on regionally characteristic Euphoribacae plant species. Breeding occurs during the austral summer. Two or three eggs are laid (up to four in captivity). The wild bird and the P. maracana have apparently produced infertile eggs¹.

System:

Terrestrial

List of Habitats:

1.6	Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland
3.5	Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry

Threats

Threats:

Trapping for trade is responsible for its current proximity to extinction. Settlement along the rio São Francisco has resulted in clearance for crop cultivation, increased hunting for food and trapping for trade. Only 30 km² of gallery woodland remains in three fragments. A hybrid strain of the invasive bee Apis mellifera reportedly kills incubating parrots in the region and occupies c.40% of potential nest-sites. The captive population may suffer from inbreeding depression since all birds are closely related².

List of Threats:

1.1.3	Habitat Loss/Degradation - Agriculture - Non-timber plantations (ongoing)
2.1	Invasive alien species (directly affecting the species) - Competitors (ongoing)
3.1	Harvesting (hunting/gathering) - Food (ongoing)
3.5	Harvesting (hunting/gathering) - Cultural/scientific/leisure activities (ongoing)

Conservation Actions

Conservation Actions:

Conservation measures underway:
CITES Appendix I and II and is protected under Brazilian law. There are a variety of community conservation programmes, that will pave the way for future reintroductions^1,2. The establishment of the Brazilian government's Permanent Committee for the Recovery of Spix's Macaw and cooperation between holders of birds resulted in annual increases in the captive population but has subsequently been dissolved after disputes between the body and private breeders and will be restructured⁵.

Conservation measures proposed:
Introduce captive-bred fledglings and ensure protection from trappers. Continue cooperation between holders of captive birds.Continue ecological studies to assess the need for habitat management³.

List of Conservation Actions:

3.3	Research actions - Biology and Ecology (in place, needed)
4.1	Habitat and site-based actions - Maintenance/Conservation (in place, needed)
5.1	Species-based actions - Re-introductions (in place, needed)
5.7.1	Species-based actions - Ex situ conservation actions - Captive breeding/Artificial propagation (in place, needed)

Bibliography

Bibliography:

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. 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.

IUCN. 2002. 2002 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. . Downloaded on 8 October 2002.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2004. Cyanopsitta spixii. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 15 May 2008.
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