Blue-and-yellow Macaw vs Coastal Silver-stiletto

Ara ararauna compared with Acrosathe annulata

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Blue-and-yellow Macaw	Coastal Silver-stiletto
Kingdom same	Animalia (حيوانات)	Animalia (حيوانات)
Phylum	Chordata (حبليات)	Arthropoda (مفصليات الأرجل)
Class	Aves (طيور)	Insecta (حشرات)
Order	Psittaciformes (ببغاء)	Diptera (ذوات الجناحين)
Family	Psittacidae (True Parrots)	Therevidae
Genus	Ara (Macaws)	Acrosathe
Species	Ara ararauna	Acrosathe annulata

Evolutionary Relationship

Blue-and-yellow Macaw and Coastal Silver-stiletto share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (حيوانات)

Conservation Status

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

LC — Least Concern

Coastal Silver-stiletto

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Blue-and-yellow Macaw	Coastal Silver-stiletto
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (5 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela).

Coastal Silver-stiletto

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

One of the most striking and widely kept macaw species, blue-and-yellow macaws display brilliant cobalt blue upper parts contrasting with vivid yellow underparts and green forehead. They inhabit forest, woodland, and savanna from eastern Panama through Venezuela, Brazil, and Bolivia to Peru and Ecuador. Highly intelligent, they live in pairs or small flocks, feeding on palm nuts, seeds, and fruit. Popular in aviculture for over 400 years, they can live 80+ years in captivity.

Coastal Silver-stiletto

Coastal silver stiletto (Acrosathe annulata) is a slender robber fly in the family Therevidae, native to northwestern Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scandinavia. Adults are found on coastal sand dunes and sandy heathland, where they perch on bare sand to ambush small flying insects. Stiletto flies in the family Therevidae are characterised by a slender body, long pointed abdomen, and predatory habits; adults prey on a variety of small dipterans and other flying insects during warm, sunny periods. Larvae develop in sandy soil, where they are also predatory, feeding on other invertebrate larvae. Acrosathe annulata is a habitat specialist restricted to open, sandy coastal habitats with sparse vegetation—environments that have declined substantially across northwestern Europe due to dune stabilisation, recreational disturbance, and the cessation of traditional dune management. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though regional conservation bodies in the United Kingdom have flagged population declines. It is considered an indicator of high-quality coastal sand dune habitats and is monitored through national invertebrate surveys.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇳🇴 Norway