Subspecies Platycercus (Violania) adscitus adscitus (Latham, 1790)

Museums

Regional Maps

• 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 and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

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