• Violania Wells, R.W. & Wellington, R. 1992. A classification of the cockatoos and parrots (Aves: Psittaciformes) of Australia. Sydney Basin Naturalist 1: 107-169 [Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240)] [123] [as subgenus of Platycercus Vigors, 1825; chosen here over Hesperapsitticus Wells & Wellington, 1992—action of first reviser under ICZN Art. 24].

  Type species:

   Psittacus adscitus Latham, 1790 by original designation.
• Hesperapsittacus Wells, R.W. & Wellington, R. 1992. A classification of the cockatoos and parrots (Aves: Psittaciformes) of Australia. Sydney Basin Naturalist 1: 107-169 [Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240)] [124] [as subgenus of Platycercus Vigors, 1925].

  Type species:

   Psittacus icterotis Kuhl, 1820 by original designation.

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. [179]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: N coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• Wolters, H.E. 1975. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 1, 1-80 pp. [67] (also data in Cannon, C.E. 1984. Rosellas, Platycercus spp., and their hybrids in the eastern Queensland - New South Wales border region. Australian Zoologist 21: 175–183 [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. Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240)]; Ford, J. 1987. Hybrid zones in Australian birds. Emu 87: 158–178; Ovenden, J.R., Mackinlay, A.G. & Crozier, R.H. 1987. Systematics and mitochondrial genome evolution of Australian rosellas (Aves: Platycercidae). Journal of Molecular Biology and Evolution 4: 526–543; and, except for specific limits, Condon, H.T. 1941. The Australian broadtailed parrots (subfamily Platycercinae). Records of the South Australian Museum 7: 117–144; Immelmann, K. 1966. Die australischen Plattschweifsittiche. Wittenberg, Lutherstadt : A. Ziemsen (Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei) 128 pp.; Forshaw, J.M. 1981. Australian Parrots. 2nd (revised) Edn. Illustrated by W.T. Cooper. Melbourne : Lansdowne Edns 312 pp. 56 pls; Ford, J. 1986. Avian hybridization and allopatry in the region of the Einasleigh uplands and Burdekin-Lynd divide, north-eastern Queensland. Emu 86: 87–110 [Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240) Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 5 pp. 385–499 + xii pls 363–370 Appendixes A & B (Appendix B)])

Introduction

Following Christidis and Boles (2008: 155), the 'Platycercus eximius-adscitus-venustus' complex is separated into individual species, thus requiring allocation of a new CAVS number as the concept of Platycercus adscitus is changed.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), 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 Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Plains (GUP), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), 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), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria

General References

Cain, A.J. 1955. A revision of Trichoglossus haematodus and of the Australian platycercine parrots. Ibis 97: 432-479 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [155]

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

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

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. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

History of changes

• Psittacus adscitus 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. [126] [based on the Blue-cheeked Parrot in Latham, J. 1787. Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh & Sotheby iii 298 pp. pls CVII–CXIX [Sclater, P.L. 1893. List of the dates of delivery of the sheets of the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society of London, from the commencement in 1830 to 1859 inclusive. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893: 435–440] (64), in turn evidently based on material received via Thomas Pennant from Joseph Banks collected on James Cook's first 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] (340)—this material has since been dispersed and lost, see references under Psittacus multicolor Gmelin, 1788 (q.v.) and P. elegans Gmelin, 1788 (q.v.); name referred with query to the central-and south-east Queensland form, Platycercus e. palliceps Lear, 1832 by 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 (547)—however, type probably from Endeavour River, QLD, at the southern limit of the Cape York Peninsula form, for two reasons: (1) its original description matches that form except for the phrase 'breast … green', possibly reflecting some introgression from palliceps Lear, 1832, and (2) parrots other than lorikeets appear to have been recorded only at Endeavour River among Cook's landfalls on the QLD coast in 1770–1771, see also 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] (340); Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. (13–17); nevertheless, because of these uncertainties and because the Endeavour River population is on the edge of intergradation with palliceps Lear, 1832 (Ford, J. 1986. Avian hybridization and allopatry in the region of the Einasleigh uplands and Burdekin-Lynd divide, north-eastern Queensland. Emu 86: 87–110 [Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240) Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 5 pp. 385–499 + xii pls 363–370 Appendixes A & B (Appendix B)]), a neotype is designated here from a nearby 'pure' population of the Cape York Peninsula form to establish the conventional application of Psittacus adscitus Latham, 1790—this designation is approved by the RAOU Taxonomic Advisory Committee].

  Type data:

   Neotype NMV ♂ adult (H.L. White coll.278), Coen, Cape York Peninsula, QLD (published without locality).

  Subsequent designation 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. [181].

  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. [181].
• Platycercus amathusiae Bonaparte, C.L. 1850. Nouvelles espèces ornithologiques. Première partie: Perroquets. Lugduni. Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles 30: 131-139 [published Feb.] [133] [also as incorrect subsequent spelling, amathusia, e.g., by Gould, J. 1865. Handbook to the Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould 2 629 pp. [For publication date 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.]; 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; attributed to Gould and evidently based on the same specimen as Platycercus cyanogenys Gould, 1855 (q.v.), collected by J. Macgillivray on the 'Rattlesnake' at Evans Bay, Cape York, in Oct., 1848, 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 figured on pl. 63 in Gould, J. 1869. The Birds of Australia. Supplement. London : J. Gould 81 pls pp. [Pt 3, 1859]].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1855.9.10.1 unsexed adult, Evans Bay, Cape York Peninsula, QLD (as Cape York)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, 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.
• Platycercus cyanogenys Gould, J. 1855. The Birds of Australia. Supplement. London : J. Gould Part 2 81 pls. [Date published Sept. 1855: publication dated 1969 in bound volume] [text to pl. 63] [junior objective synonym of Platycercus amathusiae Bonaparte, 1850 (q.v.), based on same specimen, 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.; cf. 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 (549) for identification of holotype].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1855.9.10.1 unsexed adult, Evans Bay, Cape York Peninsula, QLD (as Cape York).
• Platycercus amathusia Finsch, O. 1868. Die Papageien, monographisch bearbeitet. Leiden : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 vii 996 pp., 5 pls. [197] [unjustified emendation of Platycercus amathusiae Gould (=Bonaparte), 1850].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Wolters, H.E. 1975–1982. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey xx 745 pp. [67]

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Cape York Peninsula, north to Cape York and south to Endeavour, middle Palmer and lower Gilbert Rivers. Intergrades southwards with P. e. palliceps Lear, 1832 through Burdekin-Einasleigh-Gilbert-Norman River drainages.

IBRA

Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, in open eucalypt and paperbark (Melaleuca) forest and woodland, sometimes edges of vine forest, feeds mainly on seeds arboreally and on ground, 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 to seasonal food sources.

General References

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

History of changes

• Platycercus palliceps Lear, E. 1832. Illustrations of the family of Psittacidae, or Parrots: the greater part of them species hitherto unfigured, containing forty-two lithographic plates, drawn from life, and on stone. London : E. Lear 42 pls. [Pt XII, published 1832, publication dated as 1830–1832] [pl. 19] [published without description or locality but in association with a coloured illustration and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(7); also as incorrect subsequent spelling, pallidus by Sclater, P.L. 1862. Additions to the menagerie. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1862: 184–186; based apparently on a single adult in the collection of B. & J. Leadbeater, dealers, London; type locality not specified and currently stated imprecisely as 'New South Wales', making application of name uncertain, see Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.] and subsequent revisions; 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.—however, Lear's associate and later employer, Gould in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 5 92 pls pp. [Pt 8, 1842] (text to pl. 26) records that all specimens that he had seen in England, both alive and preserved, had come from Moreton Bay, QLD; as Lear's figure of the holotype matches the form found there, Moreton Bay may be taken as its type locality].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (?lost, ex B. & J. Leadbeater coll., figured on pl. 19 in Lear, E. 1832. Illustrations of the family of Psittacidae, or Parrots: the greater part of them species hitherto unfigured, containing forty-two lithographic plates, drawn from life, and on stone. London : E. Lear 42 pls pp. [Pt XII, published 1832, publication dated as 1830–1832]), Moreton Bay, QLD (published without locality).

  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. [183].
• Platycercus coelestis Lesson, R.P. 1844. Catalogue descriptif des oiseaux nouveau, rares ou peu connus, de la collection Abeillé, 8th Article. Écho du Monde Savant, 11th year, 18 July, n. 5: cols 110–112. [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. Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240) (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1916. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 5 pt 4 pp. 353–440 + xi pls 267–274) Gray, G.R. 1855. Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum 192 pp.] [col. 111] [also as incorrect subsequent spelling, coelestris by 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. (340); Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. (437); identity and whereabouts of type material uncertain—not cited by Pucheran, J. 1853. Etudes sur les types peu connus du Musée de Paris. Sixième article. (Grimpeurs). Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris 2 5: 156–164].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP (institution uncertain, ex Abeillé coll.), SE QLD, ?region of Moreton Bay (as Nouvelle-Hollande: Point ignore).

  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. [184] (for reasons given under Platycercus palliceps Lear, 1832 (q.v.), cf. 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.).
• Platycercus pallidiceps Reichenow, A. 1881. Conspectus Psittacorum. Systematische Uebersicht aller bekannten Papageienarten. Journal of Ornithology 29: 1-49, 113-177, 225-289, 337-398 [119] [unjustified emendation of Platycercus palliceps Lear, 1832].
• Platycercus adscitus mackaiensis Cain, A.J. 1955. A revision of Trichoglossus haematodus and of the Australian platycercine parrots. Ibis 97: 432-479 [436].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 622983 unsexed (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 6437), Mackay, 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

• Wolters, H.E. 1975. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 1, 1-80 pp. [67]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and near inland NE Australia, north to Burdekin River drainage and Gregory Range, QLD—west to the upper Flinders River system, Barcaldine, Charleville, Mitchell and Mungindi, QLD—south to the plains on either side of the Great Dividing Range, reaching the Barwon-Namoi Rivers drainage, NSW, in west, occasionally as far as Bourke and Warrumbungle Ranges, and the Tweed River (rarely Richmond River), NSW. Intergrades with P. e. eximius (Shaw, 1792) and P. e. elecica Schodde & Short, 1989 over rather narrow zone along southern limits of range, and with P. e. adscitus (Latham, 1790) over wider zone at northern limits, mainly between Rockingham Bay and the Endeavour, Einasleigh, Palmer, Gilbert and Norman River drainages.

IBRA

NSW, Qld: 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), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, in open eucalypt forest and woodland, feeds mainly on seeds arboreally and on ground, 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 to seasonal food sources.

General References

Cannon, C.E. 1981. The diet of Eastern and Pale-headed Rosellas. The Emu 81: 101-110 (diet, ecology of diet)

Cannon, C.E. 1983. Descriptions of foraging behaviour of Eastern and Pale-headed Rosellas. Bird Behaviour 4: 63-70 (feeding behaviour)

Cannon, C.E. 1984. Flock size of feeding Eastern and Pale-headed Rosellas (Aves: Psittaciformes). Australian Wildlife Research 11: 349-355 (behaviour)

Cannon, C.E. 1984. Rosellas, Platycercus spp., and their hybrids in the eastern Queensland - New South Wales border region. The Australian Zoologist 21: 175-183 (estimates of hybridization by field observation)

Long, J.L. 1981. Introduced Birds of the World. The worldwide history, distribution and influence of birds introduced to new environments. Illustrated by Susan Tingay. Sydney : A.H. & A.W. Reed 528 pp. (introductions)

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Wolters, H.E. 1975. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 1, 1-80 pp. [67]
• 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. [181] (P. capitatus Shaw, 1812)

Introduction

Following Christidis and Boles (2008: 155), the 'Platycercus eximius-adscitus-venustus' complex is separated into individual species.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

SE Australia, north to Hunter River east of Great Dividing Range and to about Nandewar Range on western slopes of range, NSW—south throughout VIC (except Victorian Alps, forested E Gippsland and NW mallee) and south-west to the South-East of SA as far as middle Coorong and Tintinara—inland to Pilliga, Warren, Euabalong, Cocoparra Range, NSW, and along the Murray-Murrumbidgee river systems to Mildura-Dareton, NSW/VIC—also established (partly from introductions?) in S Mt Lofty Range north to Mt Pleasant and Barossa Valley, SA. Intergrades with P. e. elecica Schodde & Short, 1989 along summit ridges and western slopes of Great Dividing Range between Hunter-Goulburn Rivers and Inverell, NSW, and with P. e. palliceps Lear, 1832 between lower Gwydir and Namoi Rivers (region of Moree-Narrabri-Warialda), NSW.

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), 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), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, in open eucalypt woodland and edges of pasture, feeds mainly on seeds arboreally and on ground, flocks in small groups locally, 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 to seasonal food sources.

General References

Brereton, J. Le G. & Pidgeon, R. 1966. The language of the Eastern Rosella. Australian Natural History 15: 225-229 (vocalisations, behaviour, movement)

Bridgewater, A.E. 1934. The food of Platycercus eximius and P. elegans. The Emu 33: 175-186 (diet)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [155]

Hamel, J. 1970. Hybridisation of Eastern and Crimson Rosellas in Otago. Notornis 17: 126-129 (hybridisation, establishment in New Zealand)

Long, J.L. 1981. Introduced Birds of the World. The worldwide history, distribution and influence of birds introduced to new environments. Illustrated by Susan Tingay. Sydney : A.H. & A.W. Reed 528 pp. (introductions)

Parker, S.A. 1988. The origin of the populations of the Eastern Rosella inhabiting the Mount Lofty Ranges and Adelaide Plains, South Australia. South Australian Ornithologist 30: 132 (establishment in Mt Lofty Range)

History of changes

• Platycercus diemenensis North, A.J. 1911. Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania. Sydney : Australian Museum Spec. Cat. 1 Vol. 3 vii 362 pp. [Pt II, published July 1911, publication dated as 1912] [128] [proposed conditionally but available under ICZN Art. 15; holotype inferred by Hindwood, K.A. 1946. A list of the types and paratypes of birds from Australian localities in the Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales. Records of the Australian Museum 21: 386–393 and Longmore, N.W. 1991. Type specimens of birds in the Australian Museum. Technichal Report of the Australian Museum n 4: 1–42, but North in the protologue specifies 'specimens from the … island', indicating that material in AM prior to 1911 is syntypic; Hindwood, K.A. 1946. A list of the types and paratypes of birds from Australian localities in the Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales. Records of the Australian Museum 21: 386–393 specification of a type effects lectotypification under ICZN Art. 74].

  Type data:

   Lectotype AM A.6533 ♂ adult, Tasmania.
  Paralectotype(s) AM A.5369 ♂; AM A.5370 ♂; AM A.5371 ♂; AM A.6535 ♀.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Hindwood, K.A. 1946. A list of the types and paratypes of birds from Australian localities in the Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales. Records of the Australian Museum 21: 386-393.

Distribution

States

Tasmania

Extra Distribution Information

Lowland east-central regions, centred in Derwent, Coal, Macquarie, Esk and Tamar River valleys.

IBRA

Tas: Ben Lomond (BEL), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR)

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, in open eucalypt woods and edges of pasture, feeds mainly on seeds arboreally and on ground, flocks in small groups locally, flies in shallow undulations bringing wings in to side body, nests on bed of wood dust/debris in tree hollows, incubation by female, both sexes rear pale grey-downed, yellowish-billed chicks.

General References

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

History of changes

• Platycercus eximius elecica Schodde, R. & Short, L.L. in Schodde, R. 1989. New subspecies of Australian birds. Canberra Bird Notes 13: 119-122 [Date published Feb. 1989: publication dated as Dec. 1988] [120] [also as incorrect subsequent spelling, elicica by Wells, R.W. & Wellington, R. 1992. A classification of the cockatoos and parrots (Aves: Psittaciformes) of Australia. Sydney Basin Naturalist 1: 107–169 [Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240)]].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANWC 37583 ♂ adult, Lynche's Creek, Wiangaree, NSW.
• Platycercus eximius aureodorsalis 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] [44].

  Type data:

   Holotype NMV ♂ adult (H.L. White coll. no. 4633), Copmanhurst, NSW.
  Paratype(s) NMV ♀ adult (H.L. White coll. no. 4632).

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Wolters, H.E. 1975. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 1, 1-80 pp. [67] (as P. e. cecilae Mathews, 1912)

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Central coastal E Australia, north to the NSW-QLD border ranges and along the summit ridges of the Great Dividing Range to about Toowoomba, QLD, south to the Hunter River drainage, NSW, and west to the summit ridges of the Great Dividing Range, reaching the regions of the Mole River, Inverell, Manilla, and Dunnedoo, NSW. Intergrades with P. e. eximius (Shaw, 1792) along southern and western limits north to Gunnedah-Inverell, NSW, and with P. e. palliceps Lear, 1832 at northern limits from Gold Coast, Tweed River and NSW-QLD border ranges south-west to Inverell and Bingara, NSW.

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ)

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, in tall eucalypt forest, open eucalypt woodland and the edges of pasture, feeds mainly on seeds on ground and in tree canopy (Eucalyptus), flocks in small groups locally, 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 to seasonal food sources.

General References

Brereton, J. Le G. 1963. The life cycles of three Australian parrots: some comparative and population aspects. Living Bird 2: 21-29 [Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 5 pp. 385–499 + xii pls 363–370 Appendixes A & B] (general biology, life cycle)

Brereton, J. Le G. & Pidgeon, R. 1966. The language of the Eastern Rosella. Australian Natural History 15: 225-229 (voice)

Brereton, J. Le G. & Sourry, C. 1959. Some observations on the distribution and abundance of closely-related parrots of the New England district of New South Wales. The Emu 59: 93-100 (ecological distribution, habitat)

Cannon, C.E. 1981. The diet of Eastern and Pale-headed Rosellas. The Emu 81: 101-110 (diet, ecology of diet)

Cannon, C.E. 1983. Descriptions of foraging behaviour of Eastern and Pale-headed Rosellas. Bird Behaviour 4: 63-70 (feeding behaviour)

Cannon, C.E. 1984. Flock size of feeding Eastern and Pale-headed Rosellas (Aves: Psittaciformes). Australian Wildlife Research 11: 349-355 (behaviour)

Cannon, C.E. 1984. Rosellas, Platycercus spp., and their hybrids in the eastern Queensland - New South Wales border region. The Australian Zoologist 21: 175-183 (estimates of hybridization by field observation)

Courtney, J. 1967. Observations on hybridism among rosellas in the natural state. The Emu 67: 152-154 (hybridization with P. elegans (Gmelin, 1788))

Wyndham, E., Brereton, J. le G. & Beeton, R.J.S. 1983. Moult and plumages of Eastern Rosellas, Platycercus eximius. The Emu 83: 242-246 (physiological cycles, biorythms)

Wyndham, E. & Brereton, J. le G. 1982. Ageing and sexing Eastern Rosellas. Corella 6: 89-91 (morphology, ontogeny)

History of changes

• Psittacus eximius Shaw, G. in Shaw, G. & Nodder, F.P. (ill.) 1792. The Naturalist's Miscellany; or coloured figures of natural objects drawn and described immediately from nature. London : Nodder Vol. III pls 75-110. [pl. 93 of original description dated Feb. 1792] [text to pl. 93] [pl. 93 of original description dated Feb. 1792; type material unspecified, but almost certainly a specimen in the Leverian Museum received via Governor Arthur Phillip or Surgeon-General John White from the First Fleet settlement at Port Jackson—now untraced, following dispersal of Leverian Museum, see 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.; 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); Stresemann, E. 1975. Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present. [Transl. H.J. & C. Epstein, Cottrell, G.W. (ed.)]. Cambridge : Harvard University Press xii 432 pp. (120–121): not cited in museums receiving Leverian Museum 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.; holotype probably re-figured on plate 1, dated June 1793, in Shaw, G. 1794. Zoology of New Holland. pp. 33 pp. in Shaw, G. & Smith, J.E. (eds). Zoology and Botany of New Holland, and the isles adjacent. The figures by J. Sowerby, F.L.S. London : J. Sowerby Vol. 1].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (dispersed and ?lost, ex Leverian Museum?, figured on pl. 93 in Shaw, G. & Nodder, F.P. (ill.) 1792. The Naturalist's Miscellany; or coloured figures of natural objects drawn and described immediately from nature. London : Nodder Vol. III pls 75–110 pp.), region of Port Jackson, NSW (as Nova Hollandia/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. [180] (by reason of the fact that material of Australian birds reaching England in the early 1790s came from around the First Fleet settlement at Port Jackson, NSW, see Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. [23–27]; cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]).
• Psittacus nonpareil Perry, G. 1810. Arcana; or The Museum of Natural History: containing the most recent discovered objects. Embellished with coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions; with extracts relating to animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of nature. London : J. Stratford Vol. 1 84 pls & accompanying text. [Publication dated as 1810–1811, pages and plates not numbered. See Mathews & Iredale (1912) for details of publication dates.] [text to pl. 9] [based in part on the Nonpareil Parrot (=Psittacus eximius Shaw, 1792 (q.v.)), and in part on a specimen in the collection of W. Bullock, since dispersed, 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.—that specimen could itself be the holotype of P. eximius Shaw, 1792, ex Leverian Museum, the bulk of which was acquired by the W. Bullock collection, see Stresemann, E. 1975. Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present. [Transl. H.J. & C. Epstein, Cottrell, G.W. (ed.)]. Cambridge : Harvard University Press xii 432 pp. (120–121)].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (?lost, ex W Bullock Museum figured on pl. 9 in Perry, G. 1810. Arcana; or The Museum of Natural History: containing the most recently discovered objects. Embellished with Coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions; with Extracts relating to Animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of Nature. London : J. Stratford Vol. 1 84 pls pp. [publication dated as 1810–1811] that of Psittacus eximius Shaw, 1792), Botany Bay (=region of Port Jackson), NSW (cf. Psittacus eximius Shaw, 1792).
• Psittacus omnicolor 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. [68] [junior homonym of Psittacus omnicolor Lichtenstein, 1793 (=Charmosyna papou (Scopoli, 1786)); based wholly or in part on la Perruche omnicolore on pls 28 & 29 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. 2 of original description and on pls 28 & 29 in Levaillant, F. 1805. Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets. Paris : Levrault, Schoell & Ce Vol. 1 135 pp. pls 1–71 [published between 1801–1805]), coastal southeast New South Wales (as Insel der Südsee).

  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. [180] (by reason of the fact that Bechstein's description and plate (above) represent the nominotypical form, the only material of which to reach Europe before 1805 came from coastal southeast NSW around Botany Bay and Port Jackson, cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]).
• Psittacus capitatus Shaw, G. 1812. General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Aves. London : Kearsley, Wilkie & Robinson Vol. VIII Pt 2 vi pp. 244-557 pls 46-84. [Date published 1811] [466] [based on the Lori Perruche de la mer de Sud described by J.J. Virey in Buffon, L. 1805. Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particulière. Nouvelle Edition, accompagnée de Notes, et dans laquelle les Supplémens sont insérés dans le premier texte, à la place qui leur convenient. Oiseaux. (C.S. Sonnini, ed.). Paris : F. Dufart. [published between 1800–1805]; although treated as unidentifiable by Finsch, O. 1868. Die Papageien, monographisch bearbeitet. Leiden : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 vii 996 pp. 5 pls (Appendix) and by 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 (607), the description matches this form, see also Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.] and subsequent revisions—so it is included provisionally in the synonymy of this subspecies].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown, coastal southeast New South Wales (as Southern islands).

  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. [180] (by reason of the fact that the meagre original description matches the nominotypical form, the only material of which to reach Europe before 1805 came from coastal southeast New South Wales around Botany Bay and Port Jackson, cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]).
• Platycercus eximius colei 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] [360].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 622864 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 343), Ballarat, VIC
  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

• Wolters, H.E. 1975. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 1, 1-80 pp. [67]
• 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. [181]
• 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. [181]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria

IBRA

NSW, SA, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP)

Ecological Descriptors

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

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [196-197]

Distribution

States

Western Australia

IBRA

WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Coolgardie (COO), Central Ranges (CR), Dampierland (DL), Esperance Plains (ESP), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mallee (MAL), Murchison (MUR), Nullarbor (NUL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Western Australia: SW coastal, W plateau

General References

Cain, A.J. 1955. A revision of Trichoglossus haematodus and of the Australian platycercine parrots. Ibis 97: 432-479 (subspecific arrangement)

Condon, H.T. 1941. The Australian broadtailed parrots (subfamily Platycercinae). Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 7: 117-144 (subspecific arrangement)

Ford, J. 1969. Distribution and taxonomic notes on some parrots from Western Australia. South Australian Ornithologist 25: 99-105 (subspecific arrangement)

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

Immelmann, K. 1966. Die australischen Plattschweifsittiche. Wittenberg, Lutherstadt : A. Ziemsen (Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei) 128 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

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

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. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

Wolters, H.E. 1975. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 1, 1-80 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

History of changes

• Psittacus icterotis Temminck, C.J. & Kuhl, H. in Kuhl, H. 1820. Conspectus Psittacorum. Cum specierum definitionibus, novarum descriptionibus, synonymis et circa patriam singularum naturalem adversariis, adjecto indice museorum, ubi earum artificiosae exuviae servantur. Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae 10: 1-104 pls I-III [54] [although authorship of name usually attributed to Kuhl alone, Kuhl specifies 'Temminck and Kuhl' in the original description; based on three specimens, the provenance of which remains uncertain—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] (331) points out that, from their deposition in Paris and Leiden, they were collected by early French expeditions, probably either by J.A.R. de B. D'Entrecasteaux's in late 1792 or N. Baudin's through mid 1801 and early 1803, both of which collected between Jurien Bay and the Recherche Archipelago in the range of this species; restriction by 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] of the type locality to Albany (=King George Sound) is therefore logical, cf. Temminck, C.J. 1821. Account of some new species of birds of the genera Psittacus and Columba, in the Museum of the Linnean Society. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13: 107–130 [publication dated as 1822] (under Psittacus icterotis Temminck, 1821), 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 (555); and Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.], all of whom record different, often absurd localities; although Albany is in an area where green-backed southwest populations of this species begin to intergrade with the greyer and redder-backed more easterly and inland form, the description of the type series—'latere superiori virescente'—clearly indicates the green-backed form, so fixing the application of the name; BMNH 1863.6.7.9 cited erroneously as 'type by 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 (555), 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.].

  Type data:

   Lectotype RMNH unsexed (ex C.J. Temminck Cabinet), Albany (=King George Sound), WA (as Nova Hollandia).
  Paralectotype(s) MNHP unsexed.

  Subsequent designation references:

  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] [335].

  Type locality references:

  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] [335] (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]).
• Psittacus icterotis Temminck, C.J. 1821. Account of some new species of birds of the genera Psittacus and Columba, in the Museum of the Linnean Society. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13: 107-130 [publication dated as 1822] [120] [junior primary homonym and junior objective synonym of Psittacus icterotis Temminck & Kuhl, 1820 (q.v.), being based on same material and submitted independently for publication, see entries under H. Kuhl and C.J. Temminck in 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.; and Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp.].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) RMNH unsexed (ex C.J. Temminck Cabinet), Albany (=King George Sound), WA (as environs de Port Jackson à la côte orientale de la Nouvelle Hollande); MNHP unsexed (=London Markets, lost), Albany (=King George Sound), WA (as environs de Port Jackson à la côte orientale de la Nouvelle Hollande).

  Type locality references:

  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] [335] (under Psittacus icterotis Kuhl, 1820; cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]).
• Platycercus stanleyii Vigors, N.A. 1830. Notice on some new species of birds. Zoological Journal London 5: 273-275 [published June] [273] [as Stanleyii; also as incorrect subsequent spelling, stanleyi, e.g., by 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; based on an adult male acquired by the Zoological Society of London per N.A. Vigors and evidently figured on pl. 23 in Lear, E. 1830. Illustrations of the family of Psittacidae, or Parrots: the greater part of them species hitherto unfigured, containing forty-two lithographic plates, drawn from life, and on stone. London : E. Lear 42 pls pp. [Pt II, published Nov-Dec. 1830, publication dated as 1830–1832]; holotype not cited as in BMNH by 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 (555); 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.; 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.; description matches southwest coastal form].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (probably lost, ex Zoological Society of London coll., figured on pl. 23 in Lear, E. 1830. Illustrations of the family of Psittacidae, or Parrots: the greater part of them species hitherto unfigured, containing forty-two lithographic plates, drawn from life, and on stone. London : E. Lear 42 pls pp. [Pt II, published Nov-Dec. 1830, publication dated as 1830–1832]), Albany (=King George Sound), WA (as Australia).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pts 1-6 xix 516 pp. pls 275-324. [Date published June 1917: publication dated as 1916–1917] (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]).
• Platycercus icterotis salvadori Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [273] [holotype figured on pl. 303 (bottom) and described in detail on p. 330 in 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]].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 622907 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 4858), Wilsons Inlet, southwest WA
  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.

  Type locality references:

  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. [196-197]

Distribution

States

Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal far SW Australia, north on W coast to near Mandurah, east on south coast to about Albany, and inland to a front from Pinjarra to Boyup Brook and Mt Barker, north and east of which there is rather abrupt intergradation with P. i. xanthogenys Salvadori, 1891.

IBRA

WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Esperance Plains (ESP), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Western Australia: SW coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, diurnal, florivore, frugivorous, granivore, gregarious, open forest, sedentary, tall forest, terrestrial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, in eucalypt forests and woodlands and their edges, mainly in jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) belt, feeds mainly on seeds arboreally and on ground, often flocks in small groups, 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 to seasonal food sources.

General References

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

Long, J.L. 1984. The diets of three species of parrots in the south of Western Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 11: 357-371 [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. & Iredale, T. 1915. On the ornithology of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles (Levrault). Austral Avian Records 3: 5–20] (diet)

History of changes

• Platycercus xanthogenys Salvadori, T. 1891. Descriptions of two new species of parrots of the genus Platycercus. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1891: 129-130 [published June] [129] [holotype illustrated on pl. 16 in 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 (Dec.); type locality restricted arbitrarily to Wongan Hills by Cain, A.J. 1955. A revision of Trichoglossus haematodus and of the Australian platycercine parrots. Ibis 97: 432–479, but logical in so far as the holotype (ex J. Gould coll.) matches the form in that region and could have been taken there by Gould's collector, John Gilbert, in late 1842].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1881.5.1. 4774 unsexed adult (=♂) (ex J. Gould coll.), Wongan Hills, WA (as no doubt Australia)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, 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.

  Type locality references:

  Cain, A.J. 1955. A revision of Trichoglossus haematodus and of the Australian platycercine parrots. Ibis 97: 432-479 (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]; Peters, J.L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 3 xiii 311 pp.).
• Platycercus icterotis whitlocki Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [273] [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].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 622921 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 5158), Lake Dundas, WA.

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. [197]

Distribution

States

Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

SW Australia, in band between lower Swan and Arrowsmith Rivers on west coast, east and south-east to between Southern Cross, Fraser Range, Esperance, Stirling Ranges and Kojonup. Intergrades rather abruptly with P. i. icterotis (Temminck & Kuhl, 1820), from Bannister south-east through the Kojonup area to Mt Barker and E King George Sound.

IBRA

WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Coolgardie (COO), Central Ranges (CR), Dampierland (DL), Esperance Plains (ESP), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mallee (MAL), Murchison (MUR), Nullarbor (NUL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Western Australia: SW coastal, W plateau

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, in eucalypt woodlands and open forest, feeds principally on seeds arboreally and on ground, often flocks in small groups, 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 to seasonal food sources.

General References

Long, J.L. 1984. The diets of three species of parrots in the south of Western Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 11: 357-371 [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. & Iredale, T. 1915. On the ornithology of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles (Levrault). Austral Avian Records 3: 5–20] (diet)

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [196]

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf
  • Western Australia: N coastal

General References

Condon, H.T. 1941. The Australian broadtailed parrots (subfamily Platycercinae). Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 7: 117-144 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

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

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (subspecific arrangement)

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. (subspecific arrangement)

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

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. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

Schodde, R. & Tidemann, S.C. (consultant eds) 1986. Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds. Sydney : Reader's Digest 639 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement specific limits)

History of changes

• Platycercus venustus hilli Mathews, G.M. 1910. In Proceedings of meeting of British Ornithologists' Club, Nov 16, 1910. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27: 28 [28] [for identification of holotype and type locality, 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].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 622995 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 5609), Napier Broome Bay, Kimberley Division, WA (as Napier, Broom Bay, North-West Australia).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Kimberley Division, south to King Leopold Range and upper Ord River drainage, WA, and east to lower and middle Victoria River drainage, NT, where probably intergrades with P. v. venustus (Kuhl, 1820), also adjacent continental islands : Boongaree, Coronation, Unwins, Augustus, Koolan and Cockatoo.

IBRA

NT, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, in eucalypt and paperbark (Melaleuca) woodland and open forest, feeds mainly on seeds arboreally and on ground, rather solitary or in 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, wanders locally to seasonal food sources.

General References

Frith, C.B. & Carline, F. 1974. Psittacidae. In, Hall, B.P. (ed.). Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions. London : British Museum Vol. 33 xi 396 pp., 10 pls col. pl. map. (habitat, behaviour, diet, geographical variation)

History of changes

• Psittacus venustus Kuhl, H. 1820. Conspectus Psittacorum. Cum specierum definitionibus, novarum descriptionibus, synonymis et circa patriam singularum naturalem adversariis, adjecto indice museorum, ubi earum artificiosae exuviae servantur. Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae 10: 1-104 pls I-III [52] [holotype figured on pl. 19 in the F. Bauer drawings in BMNH, collected by Robert Brown in Feb. 1803 on Matthew Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia, 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.; 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] (347); Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp.; type locality is in dispute: Arnhem Bay is recorded by 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 [publication dated 1826, published Feb. 1827] (283); 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] (347, 350), and 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., whereas nearby Caledon Bay is argued for by McAllan, I.A.W. 1989. Reassignment of the type-locality of Platycercus venustus (Kuhl, 1820), the Northern Rosella. South Australian Ornithologist 30: 193–195; Robert Brown's collection slip re holotype records: no. 804, Arnheim Bay, 6 Feb., 1803, see Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. (55); the issue turns on whether 'Arnheim Bay' is an error for Caledon Bay where Brown went ashore with Flinders on 5–6 Feb. 1803 but recorded no birds, or whether 6 Feb. 1803 is an error for 16 Feb. 1803, in the period when Flinders' expedition was in the Arnheim-Melville Bay area and recorded a number of birds including 'a beautiful species of paroquet not known at Port Jackson' (Flinders' journal); given these discrepancies, and the fact that neither of these adjacent localities affects the application of venustus Kuhl, 1820 taxonomically, nothing is gained from amending its conventional provenance].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1863.7.6.6 unsexed adult (=♂; ex Linnean Society of London coll.), Arnheim (=Arnhem) Bay, northeast Arnhem Land, NT (as Nova Hollandia)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, 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.

  Type locality references:

  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]; Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pts 1-6 xix 516 pp. pls 275-324. [Date published June 1917: publication dated as 1916–1917] [350] (c.f. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]).
• Psittacus brownii Temminck, C.J. 1821. Account of some new species of birds of the genera Psittacus and Columba, in the Museum of the Linnean Society. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13: 107-130 [publication dated as 1822] [119] [junior homonym of Psittacus brownii Kuhl, 1820 (=Platycercus caledonicus (Gmelin, 1788)); junior objective synonym of Psittacus venustus Kuhl, 1820, q.v., based on same specimen, 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 (550), and entries under H. Kuhl, C.J. Temminck and these specific names in 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., Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp., and 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. (43, 304); also as incorrect subsequent spelling, browni, e.g., by 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; holotype figured on pl. 19 in the F. Bauer drawings in BMNH; for type locality, see Psittacus venustus Kuhl, 1820 above].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1863.7.6.6 unsexed adult (=♂) (ex Linnean Society of London coll.), Arnheim (=Arnhem) Bay, northeast Arnhem Land, NT (as sur la côte nord de la Nouvelle Hollande).

  Type locality references:

  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]; 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] [350].
• Platycercus venustus melvillensis Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1(2): 25-52 [Date published 2 Apr 1912] [36] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65; for assessment of holotype, see Cain, A.J. 1955. A revision of Trichoglossus haematodus and of the Australian platycercine parrots. Ibis 97: 432–479; holotype apparently illustrated as lower figure on plate 305 and described in detail on p. 346 in 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]].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 623014 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 10897), Melville Is., NT
  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. [196]

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Arnhem Land, NT, south to Roper and upper Daly River drainages—east on coastal plains and ranges inland to northern fringe of Barkly Tableland as far as upper Gregory and middle Nicholson River drainages, QLD—and south-west to mid- and lower-Victoria River drainage where probably intergrades with P. v. hilli Mathews, 1910—also Melville-Bathurst and Millingimbi Ils.

IBRA

NT, Qld: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, in eucalypt and paperbark (Melaleuca) woodland and open forest, feeds mainly on seeds arboreally and on ground, rather solitary or in 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, wanders locally to seasonal food sources.

General References

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

History of changes