Archaeogenomic evidence from the southwestern US points to a pre-Hispanic scarlet macaw breeding colony

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1805856115
• Publication Date: 2018-08-13T19:17:07Z
• Authors: Richard J. George; Stephen Plog; Adam S. Watson; Kari L. Schmidt; Brendan J. Culleton; Thomas K. Harper; Patricia A. Gilman; Steven A. LeBlanc; George Amato; Peter Whiteley; Logan Kistler; Douglas J. Kennett
• Keywords: Macaw; Founder effect; Ancient DNA; Haplogroup

Significance Archaeogenomic analysis of scarlet macaw bones demonstrates that the genetic diversity these birds acquired by people in southwestern United States (SW) between 900 and 1200 CE was exceedingly low. Only one mitochondrial DNA haplogroup (Haplo6) is present five historically known haplogroups lowland forests Mexico Central America. Phylogenetic analyses indicate ancient lineage SW shared affinities with this wild lineage. These data support hypothesis a translocated breeding colony macaws belonging to only existed some distance north their endemic range, peoples continuously from unknown location for nearly 3 centuries, as no evidence currently exists SW.