Are These Conures Conspecific?
In Parrots of the World, Joseph M. Forshaw states that he believes that suns, jendays and gold caps are probably conspecific (of the same species). This means that rather than being three separate species, they would all be subspecies of the same species. Each would be considered the local color variation of the same bird. I would like to examine that possibility in this article, as well as their individual profiles. I’d like to discuss the possible conspecificity of this group, but first let’s go over some definitions: A genus is a group of different living things with common distinguishing characteristics that are related by prehistoric genetic origin. A species is a group of freely interbreeding individuals that will not interbreed with other members of the same genus in its natural environment. Subspecies are the local geographical variations of the same species. The variation usually involves size and (or) coloration differences that are consistent in all specimens from a particul
