Archaeopsittacus is a genus of prehistoric parrot. It is known from deposits of either Late Oligocene or Early Miocene age (c. 23 mya) at Verreaux near Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France. A single species, Archaeopsittacus verreauxi,Etymology: "Ancient parrot from Verreaux". Archaeopsittacus, Latinized Ancient Greek, from archaios (αρχαίος) "ancient" + psittakos (ψιττακός) "parrot". Chosen by Milne-Edwards to denote the similarities to the modern genus Psittacus. verreauxi, Latin for "from Verreaux". is known.Waterhouse, 2006
The genus was apparently close to the Old World lineages of parrots and might conceivably be assigned to the modern superfamily Psittacoidea. Its lack of apomorphies prevents any better placement until more material is found.Mayr & Göhlich 2004
Footnotes
References Lambrecht, Kálmán (1933): [Genus Archaeopsittacus] In: Handbuch der Palaeornithologie: 609. Gebrüder Bornträger, Berlin. Mayr, Gerald & Göhlich, Ursula B. (2004): A new parrot from the Miocene of Germany, with comments on the variation of hypotarsus morphology in some Psittaciformes. Belgian Journal of Zoology 134(1): 47–54. PDF fulltext Milne-Edwards, Alphonse (1870): Observations sur la faune ornithologique du Bourbonnais pendant la période tertiaire moyenne. C. R. hebd. Acad. sci. 70(11): 557–559. Fulltext at Gallica Waterhouse, David M. (2006): Parrots in a nutshell: The fossil record of Psittaciformes (Aves). Historical Biology 18(2): 227–238,