Species Polytelis swainsonii (Desmarest, 1826)

Superb Parrot

© Copyright Roger Williams, Canberra

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• Psittacus swainsonii Desmarest, A.G. 1826. Perroquet. In Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles dans lequel on traite méthodiquement des différens êtres de la nature, considérés soit en eux-mêmes, d'après l'état actuel de nos connoissances, soit relativement à l'utilité qu'en peuvent retirer la médecine, l'agriculture, le commerce et les arts. Suivi d'une biographie des plus célèbres naturalistes. Par plusieurs Professeurs du Jardin du Roi, et des principales Écoles de Paris. Paris : F.G. Levrault 138 pp. [39] [as Swainsonii; nom. nov. for Psittacus barrabandii Swainson, 1821, preoccupied; also as incorrect subsequent spelling, swainsoni, 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.] (31); 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 (478)].
• Psittacus barrabandii Swainson, W. 1821. Zoological Illustrations; or Original Figures and Descriptions of new, rare, or interesting Animals, selected chiefly from the classes of Ornithology, Entomology, and Conchology, and arranged on the principles of Cuvier and other modern zoologists. London : Baldwin, Cradock & Joy Vol. 1 ix 75 pp. pls 1-66. [publication dated 1820–1821] [text to pl. 59] [as Barrabandii, junior homonym of Psittacus barrabandi Kuhl, 1820 (=Pionopsitta barrabandi (Kuhl, 1820)) under ICZN Art. 58; also as incorrect subsequent spelling, barrabandi, e.g., 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] (287); 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; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.; based on an adult male in the collection of B. & J. Leadbeater, London dealers, and of unknown regional provenance—nevertheless, almost certainly collected in the valleys of the upper Macquarie or middle Lachlan Rivers, either on John Oxley's two expeditions into that region in 1817 and 1818 or from settlements and local exploration west from around Bathurst immediately after].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, ex B. & J. Leadbeater coll., figured on pl. 59 in Swainson, W. 1821. Zoological Illustrations; or Original Figures and Descriptions of new, rare, or interesting Animals, selected chiefly from the classes of Ornithology, Entomology, and Conchology, and arranged on the principles of Cuvier and other modern zoologists. London : Baldwin, Cradock & Joy Vol. 1 ix 75 pp. pls 1–66 [publication dated 1820–1821]), Macquarie-middle Lachlan River valleys, NSW (as New Holland).

  Type locality references:

  Schodde, R. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [214] (cf. Barnardius barnardi (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)).
• Palaeornis rosaceus Vigors, N.A. 1830. Notice on some new species of birds. Zoological Journal London 5: 273-275 [published June] [274] [as Palaeornis? rosaceus; based on one live female or immature in the collection of the Zoological Society, London, and another in similar plumage figured on pl. 30 in Lear, E. 1831. 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 III, published Jan. 1931, publication dated as 1830–1832]].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (probably lost ♀ or imm., ex Zoological Society of London coll.), New South Wales (published without locality); whereabouts unknown (probably lost ♀ or imm., ?ex Zoological Society of London coll., figured on pl. 30 in Lear, E. 1831. 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 III, published Jan. 1931, publication dated as 1830–1832]), New South Wales (published without locality)
  Comment: syntypes not cited as having passed to 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 (479); 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. (514); or 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.
• Polytelis swainsonii whitei Mathews, G.M. 1916. List of additions of new sub-species to, and changes in, my "List of the Birds of Australia". Austral Avian Records 3(3): 53-68 [Date published 4 Apr 1916] [57] [holotype inferred but not specified in protologue; male AMNH 621616 and female AMNH 621617 cited as syntypes by 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, but original description based on male; the female, figured on pl. 295 and described in detail on p. 262, is not nominated as part of any type series in Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 3 pp. 217–296 pls 291–299 [17 Apr. 1917, volume dated as 1916–1917]].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 621616 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Tubbo, Riverina, NSW.

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. [188]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Riverina and north-central riverine plains, NSW, and adjacent lower western slopes of Great Dividing Range north to Narrabri and Lightning Ridge, NSW, south to Albury, Benalla and Echuca (where now rare), VIC, east to Canberra, Orange and Gunnedah, NSW/ACT, and west to Hay, Hillston, Hermidale and Macquarie Marshes, NSW—previously south to Seymour and Bendigo areas, VIC, and populations on Murray River drainage now appear isolated—aviary escapees recorded frequently in east Australian cities.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), Victorian Midlands (VM)

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, feeds arboreally and on ground on seeds, fruit, scale insects and blossom, flocks in small to moderate-sized groups, flies directly with swift regular wing beats, nests on bed of wood dust/debris in tree hollows, incubation by female, both sexes rear whitish-downed, dull orange-yellow-billed chicks, wanders regionally to seasonal food sources, shifting northward in non-breeding winter months, and returning to southern sectors in spring to breed.

General References

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

Frith, H.J. & Calaby, J.H. 1953. The Superb Parrot in southern New South Wales. The Emu 53: 324-330 (distribution, movements, status, habitat, feeding ecology)

Kaveny, M. 1979. The Superb Parrot in the central west of New South Wales. Australian Birds 13: 47 (distribution, status, movements)

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] (synonymy and subsequent revisions)

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)

Schrader, N.W. 1980. A review of the distribution of the Superb Parrot in central New South Wales. Australian Birds 14: 45-50 (distribution, status, movements)

Webster, R. 1988. The Superb Parrot. A survey of the breeding distribution and habitat requirements. Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service Report Series n. 12 51 pp.

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. (synonymy)

History of changes