thumb|[[Araraunad ehk lasuuraarad]] 
'''Aara''' (''Ara'') on kitsamas mõttes lindude perekond papagoilaste sugukonnast papagoiliste seltsist. 

Kõik aarad elutsevad Lõuna-Ameerikas või Kesk-Ameerikas. 

Aara perekonda kuulub 13 liiki, millest üks on välja surnud:

*''Ara ambigua'', ''Ara ambiguus''  (suur-soldataara)
*''Ara ararauna'' (araraura ehk lasuuraara)
*''Ara auricollis'' (kaelus-aara)
*''Ara chloropterus'' (rohetiib-aara) 
*''Ara couloni''
*''Ara glaucogularis'' boliivia ararauna ehk boliivia lasuuraara)
*''Ara macao'' (puna-aara ehk makao)
*''Ara manilata'' (palmiaara)
*''Ara maracana'' (roheaara)
*''Ara militaris'' (soldat-aara)
*''Ara rubrogenys'' (mägiaara)
*''Ara severus'', ''Ara severa'' (jõgiaara)
*''Ara tricolor'' (välja surnud)

Suurtel ja Väikestel Antillidel.  On ka kahtlusi, kas nad üldse olemas olid. 
	 
*''Ara atwoodi'' (Domenica)
*''Ara autocthones'' (Sainte-Croix)
*''Ara erythrura'' (Lääne-India)
*''Ara erythrocephala'' (Jamaica)
*''Ara gossei'' (Jamaica)
*''Ara guadeloupensis'' (Guadeloupe)
*''Ara martinica''  (Martinique)

=== Aara laiemas mõttes ===
Laiemas mõttes kuuluvad '''aarade''' hulka ka perekonnad 

{{Taxobox
| name = '' Ara ''
| image = Scarlet Macaw and Blue-and-gold Macaw.jpg
| image_width = 200px
| image_caption = Blue-and-yellow Macaw on the left and Scarlet Macaw on the right
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = Chordata
| classis = Aves
| ordo = Psittaciformes
| familia = Psittacidae
| subfamilia = Psittacinae
| tribus = Arini
| genus = ''''' Ara '''''
| genus_authority =  Lacepede, 1799
| subdivision_ranks = species
| subdivision = 
''see text'' }}

'''''Ara''''' is a neotropical genus of macaws<ref name=forshaw></ref> comprising eight extant (surviving) species and at least one extinct species.<ref name = zoonomen></ref>  Many of its members are popular in the pet trade, and bird smuggling is a threat to several species. The genus was defined by French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. It gives its name to and is part of the Arini, or tribe of Neotropical parrots. The ''Ara'' macaws as large striking parrots with long tails, long narrow wings and vividly coloured plumage. 

==Taxonomy==
For many years the genus ''Ara'' contained a number of other species. Three genera have been split out from the genus, ''Orthopsittaca'', ''Primolius'' and ''Diopsittaca''. ''Orthopsittaca'' and ''Diopsittaca'' were morphologically and behaviourally different and comprise two monotypic genera, whereas the three ''Primolius'' macaws are three smaller green macaws.

===Species and subspecies===
There are eight surviving species and one extinct species.<ref name = zoonomen/> The last confirmed sighting of the extinct Cuban Red Macaw was in 1864 when one was shot. Several skins of the Cuban Red Macaw are preserved in museums, but none of its eggs have survived.<ref name = Fuller1987/>

The Ara genus is subdivided as follows:<ref name = zoonomen/>

*Blue-and-yellow Macaw, ''Ara ararauna'', (Linnaeus) 1758
*Blue-throated Macaw, ''Ara glaucogularis'', Dabbene 1921
*Military Macaw, ''Ara militaris'' (Linnaeus) 1766
** ''Ara militaris bolivianus'', Reichenow 1908
** ''Ara militaris mexicanus'', Ridgway 1915
** ''Ara militaris militaris'', (Linnaeus) 1766
* Buffon's Macaw or Great Green Macaw, ''Ara ambiguus'' (Bechstein) 1811
** ''Ara ambiguus ambiguus'', (Bechstein) 1811
** ''Ara ambiguus guayaquilensis'', Chapman 1925
*Scarlet Macaw, ''Ara macao'', (Linnaeus) 1758
** ''Ara macao cyanopterus'', Wiedenfeld 1995
** ''Ara macao macao'', (Linnaeus) 1758
*Green-winged Macaw, ''Ara chloroptera'', Gray,GR 1859
*†Cuban Red Macaw, ''Ara tricolor'', (Bechstein) 1811 (extinct)
*Red-fronted Macaw, ''Ara rubrogenys'', Lafresnaye 1847
*Chestnut-fronted Macaw or Severe Macaw, ''Ara severa'', (Linnaeus) 1758

===Hypothetical extinct species===
Several hypothetical extinct ara species have been postulated based on very little evidence, and they may have been subspecies, or familiar parrots that were imported onto an Island and later presumed to have a separate identity. The only surviving remains of any of these populations is one leg bone from a bird that once lived on Saint Croix.<ref name = Fuller1987></ref>
*''Ara martinica'', Rothschild 1905
*''Ara erythrura'', Rothschild 1907
*Lesser Antillean Macaw, ''Ara guadeloupensis'', Clarke, 1905
*Jamaican Green-and-yellow Macaw, ''Ara erythrocephala'', Rothschild 1905
*Jamaican Red Macaw, ''Ara gossei'', Rothschild 1905
*Dominican Green-and-yellow Macaw, ''Ara atwoodi'', Clarke, 1905
*Saint Croix Macaw, ''Ara autocthones''

==Morphology and appearance==
right|thumb|[[Green-winged Macaw]]
The ''Ara'' macaws are large parrots ranging from 46 to 51 cm in length and 285 to 287 g in weight in the Chestnut-fronted Macaw to 90-95 cm 1708 g in the Green-winged Macaw. The wings of these macaws are long and narrow which is typical for species of parrot which travel long distances in order to forage. They have a massive downward curved upper mandible and a patch of pale skin around the eye that extends to base of the beak. The skin patch bears minute feathers arranged in lines that form a pattern over the otherwise bare skin in all species of the genus except the Scarlet Macaw in which the skin in bare.  In most species the bill is black, but the Scarlet Macaw and Green-winged Macaw have a horn coloured upper mandible and a black lower one.

The colours in the plumage of the ''Ara'' macaws are spectacular. Four species are predominately green, two species are mostly blue and yellow, and three species (including the extinct Cuban Macaw) mostly red. There is no sexual dimorphism in the plumage, and that of the juveniles is similar to adults, some species are slightly duller.

==Distribution and habitat==
thumb|left|The wings of the [[Scarlet Macaw are long and narrow, typical for parrots that cover long distances in order to forage.]]
The ''Ara'' macaws have a Neotropical distribution from Mexico to Argentina. The centre of ''Ara'' distribution is the Panama and Colombia, which holds six species.  Four species have widespread distributions in the Amazon Basin (and beyond), and the most widespread species, the Scarlet Macaw, is distributed throughout Central America and the Amazon. On the other hand the Blue-throated Macaw and the Red-fronted Macaw have tiny distributions in Bolivia. The overall range of many species and the genus as a whole has declined in historical times due to human activities. The Military Macaw is distributed from northern Mexico to northern Argentina, but the distribution is discontinuous, with populations in Mexico, a large gap, then in northern Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, then a small population in central Peru, and finally another large gap till the last population in Bolivia and Argentina.  The Blue-and-yellow Macaw was expiated  from Trinidad in the 1960s,<ref name = "Oehler">Oehler DA; Boodoo D; Plair B; Kuchinski K; Campbell M; Lutchmedial G, Ramsubage S,  Maruska E and S Malowski (2001). "Translocation of Blue and Gold Macaw ''Ara ararauna'' into its historical range on Trinidad". ''Bird Conservation International'',   '''11''': pp 129-141 </ref> as well as retreating from northern Argentina, and several species apparently went extinct in the islands of the Caribbean.

The ''Ara'' macaws are generally fairly flexible in their habitat requirements; this reaches its extreme in the Scarlet Macaw, which as suggested in its widespread distribution, uses most habitat types from humid rainforest to open woodlands to savannah. The only requirement is sufficient large trees, which is where they obtain their food and breeding holes. The other species are slightly more narrow in their habitat choices, but the need for large trees is universal. The Blue-throated Macaw generally inhabits seasonally flooded savannah, and the Red-fronted Macaw prefers arid scrub and cactus woodland.