Subspecies Platycercus (Platycercus) caledonicus caledonicus (Gmelin, 1788)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Psittacus caledonicus Gmelin, J.F. 1788. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Linné, editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata. Regnum Animalium. Leipzig (Lipsiae) : G.E. Beer Vol. 1(1) 1-500 pp. [For publication date Duncan, F.M. 1937. On the dates of publication of the Society's 'Proceedings', 1859–1926. With an appendix containing the dates of publication of 'Proceedings', 1830–1858, compiled by the late F.H. Waterhouse, and of the 'Transactions', 1833–1869, by the late Henry Peavot, originally published in P.Z.S. 1893, 1913. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 107: 71–84] [328] [based on the Caledonian Parrot in Latham, J. 1782. A General Synopsis of Birds. London : B. White Vol. 1 vi 788 pp. I–XXXV pls [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.] (248), in turn based on two specimens, one or both formerly in the collection of Joseph Banks, taken at Adventure Bay, Tasmania in Jan. 1777 on James Cook's third voyage to Australasia, see Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 4 pp. 297–372 pls 300–307 [27 June 1917, volume dated as 1916–1917] (324); Stresemann, E. 1950. Birds collected during Capt. James Cook's last expedition (1776–1780). Auk 67: 66–88; for identification of figure of syntype in BMNH, see Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (199–200); for dispersal and fate of Cook's collections, see Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (172–173); Stresemann, E. 1950. Birds collected during Capt. James Cook's last expedition (1776–1780). Auk 67: 66–88; Whitehead, P.J.P. 1969. Zoological specimens from Captain Cook's voyages. Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 5: 161–201 [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. 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.]; material in NHMW from Dalrymple Bay, TAS, not part of type series, cf. 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].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (dispersed and ?lost, figured on W.W. Ellis drawing no. 16 in BMNH), Adventure Bay, TAS (as nova Caledonia).
• Platycercus caledonicus flindersi Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 4 pp. 297-372 pls 300-307. [Date published 27 June 1917: volume dated as 1916–1917] [328] [based on material in the G.M. Mathews collection from Flinders Is. (?and Kent group), but published without specification of types].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 622768 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Flinders Is., Bass Strait; AMNH 622769 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Flinders Is., Bass Strait; AMNH 622767 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Flinders Is., Bass Strait
  Comment: for identification of syntypes, 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

• 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. [172]

Distribution

States

Tasmania

Extra Distribution Information

All TAS, adjacent off-shore islands and Furneaux and (?)Kent Groups, Bass Strait.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

Tas: Ben Lomond (BEL), Flinders (FLI), King (KIN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Tasmania

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, feeds arboreally and on ground mainly on seeds (Eucalyptus) in all wooded habitats, flocks in small to medium-sized groups or pairs, 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, sedentary or wanders locally to seasonal food sources.

General References

Brown, P. 1977. The Green Rosella Platycercus caledonicus. Aviculture Magazine 83: 142-145 (behaviour, nidification in captivity)

Green, R.H. & Swift, J.W. 1965. Rosellas as insect eaters. The Emu 65: 75 (diet)

Lea, A.M. & Gray, J.T. 1935. The food of Australian birds. An analysis of the stomach contents. Part II. The Emu 35: 63-98 (diet)

History of changes