Species Psitteuteles versicolor (Lear, 1831)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Trichoglossus versicolor 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. [Pt II, published Nov-Dec. 1830, publication dated as 1830–1832] [pl. 36] [published without description or locality but in association with a coloured illustration, and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(7); Conurus lori scintillatus 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] (pl. 52) cited as synonym 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 (67), but name unavailable, being a Latin translation of a French vernacular name and not binominal, see 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. (Appendix C) cf. ICZN Art. 11 (c); type locality fixed without evidence at Cape York by 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 accepted by 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., but as this species is absent from that locality, the northwest coast of Australia between King Sound and Cape Arnhem, which was visited regularly by P.P. King on his hydrographic surveys between 1817 and 1821, or the abortive English settlements of Fort Dundas on Melville Island in 1824 and Fort Wellington on Raffles Bay, NT, in 1827, are much more likely provenances].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on pl. 36 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]), northwest coast of Australia, probably region of Cobourg Peninsula and Melville Is. (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. [130].
• Trichoglossus versicolor mellori Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [259].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 618676 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 5161), South Alligator River, NT (as Northern Territory (South Alligator R.))
  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.
• Trichoglossus versicolor whitei Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [260].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 618643 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 6369), Derby, north 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.

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. [184]

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal N Australia, west to Kimberley Division and Dampier Land, WA—south to Roebuck Bay, Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers (erratically reaching Wolf and Sturt Creeks) and the upper Ord, Victoria, Roper and Gulf of Carpentaria drainages, WA/NT—and east to the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria and W and central Cape York Peninsula, QLD, where uncommon north to lower Wenlock River, east to the Great Dividing Range and headwaters of the Princess Charlotte Bay catchment, and south to the upper Flinders River (Hughenden) and Selwyn Range (Mt Isa)—also main in-shore islands : Augustus, Melville-Bathurst, Elcho, Groote Eylandt and Sir Edward Pellew group. Records in QLD south to Boulia-Windorah, the Atherton tableland, Townsville, Mackay and Gin Gin are unconfirmed.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

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

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, diurnal, frugivorous, gregarious, low open woodland, low woodland, mellivore, nomadic, open forest, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Opportunistic breeder, feeds on nectar, pollen, fruit-flesh and (accidentally?) seeds and insects in tree crowns in eucalypt and paperbark (Melaleuca) woodlands and forests, flocks and roosts in communal groups, flies directly on swiftly beating wings, nests on bed of wood dust in tree hollows, incubation by female, both sexes rear whitish-downed, dark-billed chicks, wanders locally and regionally 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 and synonymy)

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)

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)

Mathews, G.M. 1946. A Working List of Australian Birds including the Australian Quadrant and New Zealand. Sydney : G.M. Mathews 184 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

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)

Tarr, H.E. 1963. The Varied Lorikeet in northern Australia. Australian Bird Watcher 2: 184, pl. (feeding and drinking behaviour)

History of changes