Species Purpureicephalus spurius (Kuhl, 1820)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Psittacus spurius 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] [based on an immature collected on the Baudin expedition, see Bourjot Saint-Hilaire, A. 1838. Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets, troisième volume (Supplémentaire), pour faire suite aux deux volumes de Levaillant, contenant les espèces laissées inédites par cet auteur ou récemment découvertes. Paris : F.G. Levrault xl 110 pp. 111 pls [publication dated as 1837–1838]; Stresemann, E. 1951. Type localities of Australian birds collected by the 'Expedition Baudin' (1801–1803). Emu 51: 65–70; holotype figured in Bourjot Saint-Hilaire, A. 1838. Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets, troisième volume (Supplémentaire), pour faire suite aux deux volumes de Levaillant, contenant les espèces laissées inédites par cet auteur ou récemment découvertes. Paris : F.G. Levrault xl 110 pp. 111 pls [publication dated as 1837–1838]].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP unsexed, King George Sound, WA (as Nova Hollandia)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see 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 locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 5 pp. 373-444 pls 308-316. [Date published 11 Sept. 1917: volume dated as 1916-1917 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 [publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B] (Appendix B)] [388]; Stresemann, E. 1951. Type localities of Australian birds collected by the 'Expedition Baudin' (1801–1803). The Emu 51: 65-70.
• Platycercus pileatus Vigors, N.A. 1830. Notice on some new species of birds. Zoological Journal London 5: 273-275 [published June] [274] [based on an adult male acquired by the Zoological Society of London per N.A. Vigors and evidently figured on pl. 21 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 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 (557); 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.].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (probably lost, ex Zoological Society of London coll., probably figured on pl. 21 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. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912].
• Platycercus rufifrons Lesson, R.P. 1830. Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau Méthodique des ordres, sous-ordres, familles, tribus, genres, sous-genres et races d'oiseaux. Paris : F.G. Levrault Vol. 1 xxxii 659 pp., Vol. 2 (Atlas) xii 119. [Date published July 1830: Livr. 3, July 1830, dated 1831; Livr. 6 published 1831] [208] [livr. 3; based on same specimen as Psittacus spurius Kuhl. 1820 (q.v.), see Pucheran, J. 1853. Etudes sur les types peu connus du Musée de Paris. Sixième article. (Grimpeurs). Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris 2 5: 156–164; see also discussion by Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 5 pp. 373–444 pls 308–316 [11 Sept. 1917, volume dated as 1916-1917 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 [publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B] (Appendix B)] (388)].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP unsexed, King George Sound, WA (as Nouvelle-Hollande).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 5 pp. 373-444 pls 308-316. [Date published 11 Sept. 1917: volume dated as 1916-1917 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 [publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B] (Appendix B)] [388] (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 purpureocephalus Quoy, J.R.C. & Gaimard, J.P. in Dumont-d'Urville, J. 1830. Voyage de découvertes de l'Astrolabe exécuté par ordre du Roi, pendant les anneés 1826–1827–1828–1829, sous le commandement de M.J. Dumont-d'Urville. Zoologie. Paris : J. Tastu Vol. 1 i 268 pp. [no month of publication] [235] [as Psittacus (Platycercus) purpureocephalus; holotype figured on pl. 22 of Oiseaux in Dumont-d'Urville, J. 1833. Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabeexécuté pendant les années 1826–1827–1828–1829 sous le commandement de M.J. Dumont-d'Urville, Capitaine de vaisseau. Atlas. Paris : J. Tastu Oiseaux 31 pls pp.].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP ♂, King George Sound, WA (as port du Roi-Georges, à la Nouvelle-Hollande).
• Purpureicephalus spurius carteri Mathews, G.M. 1915. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2: 123-133 [Date published 129] [128] [described without specification of holotype; thus all males in the G.M. Mathews collection taken from the type locality, Broome Hill, before publication are syntypes, see Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306; lectotypification effected by designation as type, the male figured on pl. 309 and described in detail on p. 387 in Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 5 pp. 373–444 pls 308–316 [11 Sept. 1917, volume dated as 1916-1917 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 [publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B] (Appendix B)], see ICZN Art.74—this specimen bears Mathews' green type label, 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; Greenway also cited females as syntypes, but these should be excluded because Mathews' original diagnosis of carteri was based only on males].

  Type data:

   Lectotype AMNH 623215 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Broome Hill, WA.
  Paralectotype(s) AMNH 623216 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified); AMNH 623217 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified).

  Subsequent designation references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 5 pp. 373-444 pls 308-316. [Date published 11 Sept. 1917: volume dated as 1916-1917 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 [publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B] (Appendix B)] [387].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Condon, H.T. 1941. The Australian broadtailed parrots (subfamily Platycercinae). Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 7: 117-144 [123]

Distribution

States

Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal SW WA, north to Dangaragan and Gingin, and east to Northam, the Avon River drainage and Lake Grace, also along the south coast to Esperance.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

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, folivore, frugivorous, granivore, gregarious, nomadic, open forest, sedentary, tall forest, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, feeds mostly arboreally on seeds, fruits and lerps, principally the seeds hooked out of capsules of the Marri, Eucalyptus calophylla, flocks in small groups, flies in shallow undulations bringing wings in to side of body, nests on wood dust in high tree hollows, incubation by female, both sexes rear pale grey-downed, yellowish-billed chicks, wanders locally to seasonal food sources.

General References

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

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

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

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)

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] (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. (synonymy)

Robinson, A. 1960. The importance of the marri as a food source to south-western Australian birds. Western Australian Naturalist 7: 109-115 (diet)

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)

Serventy, D.L. 1938. The King Parrot of Western Australia - Purpureicephalus spurius (Kuhl, 1820). The Emu 37: 169-172 pl. 28 (origin, feeding, sexual dimorphism)

History of changes