Psittacidae

The family Psittacidae is one of three families of true parrots, and consists of two subfamilies, the Old Word or Afrotropical parrots of Psittacinae and the New Word or Neotropical parrots of Arinae. The family numbers approximately 10 species in the Old World, and 148 species in the New World, and included several species that have gone extinct in recent centuries. Some of the most iconic birds in the world are represented here, such as the blue-and-gold macaw among the New World parrots and the African grey parrot among the Old World parrots. These parrots are found in tropical and subtropical zones and inhabit Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean islands, sub-Saharan Africa and the island of Madagasca, and the Arabian Peninsula. Two parrots, one extinct, formerly inhabited North America.

This family likely had its origin early in the Paleogene period (66-23 mya) after the western half of Gondwana had separated into the continents of Africa and South America, before the divergence of African and New World lineages c. 30-35 mya. It is estimated that the New World parrots Arinae  and by implication Old World Parrots, last shared a common ancestor with the Australian parrots (Cacatuidae) c. 59 mya. The data place most of the diversification of psittaciforms around 40 mya, after the separation of Australia from West Antarctica and South America. Divergence of Psittacidae from the ancestral parrots resulted from a common radiation event from what was then West Antarctica into South America then Africa via late Cretaceous land bridges that survived through the Paleogene.