Tiger Parrots Are an Ancient Lineage

摘要

Tiger parrots are an ancient branch of the parrot evolutionary tree rather than close relatives of either rosellas or certain Asian and African birds, as previously thought. The finding comes from work conducted by Dr Leo Joseph using stretches of DNA that have previously been sequenced across many parrot species. Tiger parrots live in the New Guinea highlands, so tissue samples are not easily available, but Joseph was able to get the DNA required.