Species Parvipsitta pusilla (Shaw, 1790)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Psittacus pusillus Shaw, G. in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls. [published before Aug.] [262] [as Small Paroquet Psittacus Pusillus in Latin-English appendix of avian names and diagnoses; presumed holotype figured on plate opposite p. 262 of original description; authorship of names is disputed and credited (1) to J. White by Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]; Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pts 1–6 xix 516 pp. pls 275–324 [publication dated as 1916–1917]; Mees, G.F. 1969. Letter. Notornis 16: 215; and Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. , (2) to G. Shaw by Swainson, W. 1834. A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural History. pp. viii 462 pp. in Lardner, D. (ed). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia, no. 59. London : Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman and John Taylor (65); Sherborn, C.D. 1891. Note on the authors of the specific names in John White's 'Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales', 1790. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 6 7: 535; Alexander, W.B. 1924. White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales. Emu 23: 209–215; Waite, E.R. 1924. White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales. Emu 24: 71; Peters, J.L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 3 xiii 311 pp.; Hindwood, K.A. 1969. The authorship of cristatus for the Owlet-Nightjar. Notornis 16: 64–65; and Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1981. Nocturnal Birds of Australia. Illustrated by Jeremy Boot. Melbourne : Lansdowne Edns 136 pp. 22 pls [publication dated as 1980] (11, publication dated as 1980) and (3) to Shaw, Smith & Hunter by McAllan, I.A.W. & Bruce, M.D. 1989. The Birds of New South Wales A Working List. Turramurra, New South Wales : Biocon Research Group vii 103 pp. [publication dated 1988, published May 1989] (27, published May 1989, publication dated as 1988); these views indicate, when considered together, that (1) John White was not the author of any plants or animals named scientifically in appendices to his Journal, (2) the botanist J.E. Smith authored the plants alone, a point accepted in botanical nomenclature, (3) John Hunter probably named only the quadrupeds and a spider, (4) George Shaw almost certainly named all or most the remaining vertebrates, notably the birds, supported by material sent back by White to the Leverian Museum and (5) a majority of ornithological revisions in which references are not copied accept Shaw as the author of White's bird names, see e.g., the various authors of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, 1874–1898; Peters (loc. cit.); Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 2, 81–160 pp.—thier precedent is followed here, cf. ICZN Art. 50; type material probably ex Leverian Museum, but not traced in museums receiving its collections, see von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14–54; Von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Part II. Ibis 3 3: 105–124; Wagstaffe, R. 1978. Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums. Liverpool : Merseyside County Museums, Merseyside County Council 33 pp.; cf. Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. (439–440)].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (?lost, possibly ex Leverian Museum, figured on plate opposite p. 262 in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls [published before Aug.]), region of Port Jackson, NSW (published without locality).

  Type locality references:

  Alexander, W.B. 1924. White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales. The Emu 23: 209-215.
• Psittacus pusillus Latham, J. 1790. Index ornithologicus, sive Systema Ornithologiae; complectens avium divisionem in classes, ordines, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates: adjectis synonymis, locis, descriptionibus, &c. London : Leigh & Sotheby Vol. 1 & 2 xviii 920 pp. [106] [junior homonym of Psittacus pusilla Shaw, 1790; same name proposed independently for same species, and based, according to differing descriptions, on different specimens, see Mathews, G.M. 1916. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 1. pp. 1–104 pls 275–282 [publication dated as 1916–1917, 22 Nov. 1916] (50)].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (?lost, possibly ex Leverian Museum, figured on plate opposite p. 262 in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls [published before Aug.]), region of Port Jackson, NSW (published without locality).
  Paratype(s) whereabouts unknown (?lost), New South Wales (as nova Wallia australi).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1913. A List of the Birds of Australia containing the names and synonyms connected with each genus, species, and subspecies of birds found in Australia, at present known to the author. London : Witherby xxvii 453 pp.; Alexander, W.B. 1924. White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales. The Emu 23: 209-215.
• Psittacus nuchalis Bechstein, J.M. 1811. Kurze Uebersicht aller bekannten Vögel: oder ihre Kennzeichen der Art nach Lathams General Synopsis of Birds und seinem Index ornithologicus. Nürnberg : A.G. Schneider & Weigel iv 536 pp. 42 pls. [81] [junior homonym of Psittacus nuchalis Shaw, 1810 (=Psittacus cervicalis Latham, 1790—unidentifiable, 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 (Appendix, p. 612)); based in part on la Perruche à face rouge on pl. 63 in Levaillant, F. 1805. Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets. Paris : Levrault, Schoell & Ce Vol. 1 135 pp. pls 1–71 [published between 1801–1805]].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) MNHP (institution uncertain, figured on pl. 9 (top) in original description, and on pl. 63 in Levaillant, F. 1805. Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets. Paris : Levrault, Schoell & Ce Vol. 1 135 pp. pls 1–71 [published between 1801–1805]), New South Wales (as Inseln der Südsee).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912].
• Glossopsitta pusilla ashbyi Mathews, G.M. 1915. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2: 123-133 [Date published 129] [127].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 618188 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 16810), Cairns, north QLD
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [185]

Generic Combinations

• Parvipsitta pusilla (Shaw, 1790). —
  Schweizer, M., Wright, T.F., Peñalba, J.V., Schirtzinger, E. & Joseph, L. 2015. Molecular phylogenetics suggests a New Guinean origin and frequent episodes of founder-event speciation in the nectarivorous lories and lorikeets (Aves: Psittaciformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 90: 34-48
• Glossopsitta pusilla (Shaw, 1790).

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal E Australia, north to Atherton Tableland (exceptionally to Endeavour River), QLD—south-west to the South-East of SA (Naracoorte-Kingston), formerly and erratically reaching Mt Lofty Range and adjacent plains, Yorke Peninsula and ?Kangaroo Is., SA—inland to inner west slopes of Great Dividing Range from Mareeba-Ravenshoe through Carnarvon Range to Chinchilla, QLD, Moree, Warrumbungle Mts, Cocoparra Range, Deniliquin, NSW, and Victorian Wimmera, avoiding only the colder highlands of SE NSW and E VIC—also Curtis, Fraser and Stradbroke islands, QLD, accidental in TAS (one(?) confirmed record).

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, closed forest, diurnal, frugivorous, gregarious, mellivore, nomadic, open forest, tall forest, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, feeds on nectar, pollen, fruit-flesh, seeds and (accidentally?) insects and larvae in tree crowns in eucalypt woodlands and forests, flocks and roosts in communal groups, flies directly on swiftly beating wings, nests on bed of wood dust in tree hollows, incubation by female, both sexes rear whitish-downed, dark-billed chicks, wanders locally and regionally to seasonal food sources.

General References

Barnicoat, F.C. 1976. Breeding of the Little Lorikeet. Aviculture Magazine 82: 65-67 (nidification)

Forshaw, J.M. 1981. Australian Parrots. 2nd (revised) Edn. Illustrated by W.T. Cooper. Melbourne : Lansdowne Edns 312 pp. 56 pls. (synonymy)

Haines, L.C. 1946. Lorikeets prefer different diets. The Emu 46: 76 (diet)

Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement alternative recognition of subspecies)

Peters, J.L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 3 xiii 311 pp. (synonymy)

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. (synonymy and specific limits)

History of changes