Subspecies Barnardius zonarius barnardi (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Platycercus barnardi Vigors, N.A. & Horsfield, T. 1827. A description of the Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 15: 170-331 [Date published 17 Feb 1827: publication dated 1826] [283] [as Barnardi; also as incorrect subsequent spelling, bernardi by Bonaparte, C.L. 1854. Tableau des perroquets. Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris 2 6: 145–158 (153); Mitchell, T.L. 1838. Three Expeditions into the Interior of eastern Australia, with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present Colony of New South Wales. London : T. & W. Boone Vol. 1 xxi 351 pp. [published after Aug. 18, 1838 Mathews, G.M. 1925. The Birds of Australia. Supplements 4 & 5. Bibliography of the Birds of Australia Pts 1 & 2. London : H.F. & G. Witherby viii 149 pp.] (xviii, after 18 Aug. 1838); based by reference on Barnard's Parrot in Latham, J. 1822. A General History of Birds. Winchester : J. Latham Vol. II 345 pp. pls 18–37 (121), in turn based a specimen from 'the interior' of 'New-Holland' presented to the collection of the Linnean Society of London by E. Barnard; for identification of holotype, see Salvadori, T. 1891. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Psittaci, or Parrots. London : British Museum Vol. 20 xvii 658 pp. XVIII pls (559); Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp.; provenance of specimen uncertain, but it must have been acquired by the Linnean Society of London after 1919 when H. Kuhl and C.J. Temminck worked over its collection of parrots, and before 1822 when its first vernacular description appeared, see Latham, J. 1822. A General History of Birds. Winchester : J. Latham Vol. II 345 pp. pls 18–37; possible sources then were the two expeditions under John Oxley to the lower Lachlan, middle Macquarie and Castlereagh Rivers, NSW, in 1817 and 1818: they were the only expeditions of the time to penetrate the range of this form, on its eastern fringes—this supposition is strengthened by the associated acquisition of male(s) of Polytelis swainsonii (Desmarest, 1826) by the Linnean Society of London, see Latham (1822) (Scarlet-breasted Parrot)].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1863. 7.7.54 unsexed adult (=♂) (ex. Linnean Society of London coll.), New South Wales, probably the region of the middle-lower Lachlan and Macquarie River drainages (as New Holland).

  Type locality references:

  Schodde, R. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [143] (cf. Psittacus barrabandii Swainson, 1821 =Polytelis swainsonii (Desmarest, 1826), q.v.).
• Barnardius typicus Bonaparte, C.L. 1854. Tableau des perroquets. Revue et Magasin de Zoologie (Paris) 2 6: 145-158 [153] [nom. nov. for Platycercus barnardi Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 (as Bernardi Latham)].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s).
• Barnardius crommelinae Mathews, G.M. 1925. A new form of Barnardius. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 46: 21 [21] [described in life from an aviary bird in the collection of the Marquess of Tavistock, which was presented to BMNH upon death, see Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp.; holotype illustrated on frontispiece to no. 6 of vol. 5, ser. 4, of the Avicultural Magazine (June 1927), and on pl. 43 in Mathews, G.M. 1928. The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant with Additions to "The Birds of Australia". London : H.F. & G. Witherby xii 139 pp. pls 1–45; interpreted as a blue mutant in which flavonoid pigmentation is lacking by Peters, J.L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 3 xiii 311 pp. and Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.—nonetheless, both plates show a bird with a rich blue back, broken yellow collar, and plain, unbanded green breast and belly, traits not uncommonly matched in specimens of B. z. barnardi (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) from the Murray Mallee, SA, to the Riverina, NSW].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1933.1.18.1 ♀ adult, Murray Mallee to Riverina, inland SE Australia (as Australia(?)).

  Type locality references:

  Schodde, R. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [143].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Schodde, R. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [142]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Inland E Australia, north to near Winton and Barcaldine, QLD—east to the western footslopes of the Great Dividing range to the Warrego and Carnarvon Ranges and Inglewood, QLD, and Delungra, Wellington, Cowra and Wagga Wagga, NSW, avoiding Warrumbungle Range—south to Howlong, NSW, Bendigo, VIC, and southern limits of Murray Mallee and Ninety-mile Desert (Dimboola-Bordertown-Kingston), SA—west to eastern footslopes of Mt Lofty-Flinders Range system, SA, and patchily north-west to Strzelecki Creek, middle Cooper Creek and Farrars Creek (Cudappan), QLD. Intergrades with B. z. zonarius (Shaw, 1805) through N Mt Lofty-Flinders Range system, west from north Murray Mallee-Olary Spur and Lake Frome to eastern shores of Lake Torrens depression and Spencer Gulf, north to the Frome River and south to Eudunda-Brinkworth, SA—also intergrades with B. z. macgillivrayi (North, 1900) on central-upper Diamantina River drainage (specimens in ANWC). Introduced in region of Sydney (status uncertain).

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gawler (GAW), Kanmantoo (KAN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Victorian Midlands (VM)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin
  • Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, diurnal, florivore, folivore, frugivorous, granivore, gregarious, low open woodland, low woodland, nomadic, open forest, resident, terrestrial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, restricted to eucalypt-lined watercourses in arid parts of range, feeds mainly on seeds on ground and in trees (mostly eucalypts and Callitris), flies in shallow undulations bringing wings in to side of body, nests on bed of wood dust/debris in tree hollows, incubation by female, both sexes rear pale grey-downed, yellowish-billed chicks, wanders locally or regionally to seasonal food sources.

General References

Boehm, E.F. 1959. Parrots and cockatoos of the Mount Mary Plains, South Australia. The Emu 59: 83-87 (diet, nidification, plumage changes)

Simpson, K.N.G. 1973. Birds of the Murray River region between Mildura and Renmark, Australia - breeding, behavioural and feeding records. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 34: 253-274 (feeding ecology, nidification)

History of changes