Cyanoramphus

Cyanoramphus is a genus of parakeets native to New Zealand and islands of the southern Pacific Ocean. The New Zealand species are often called kākāriki. They are small to medium-sized parakeets with long tails and predominantly green plumage. Most species are forest dwellers, although several of the subantarctic species live in open grassland. The genus formerly had a widely disjunct distribution: while most of the genus ranged from New Caledonia to Macquarie Island, two species were found in the Society Islands, 4,100 km (2,500 mi) away from the rest. Although the islands between these two areas have yielded many bird fossils, undescribed extinct Cyanoramphus have not yet been found on any of them.^[1]

Cyanoramphus
Red-crowned parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Psittaciformes
Family:	Psittaculidae
Tribe:	Platycercini
Genus:	Cyanoramphus Bonaparte, 1854
Species
Cyanoramphus auriceps †Cyanoramphus erythrotis Cyanoramphus malherbi Cyanoramphus hochstetteri Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae Cyanoramphus saisetti †Cyanoramphus ulietanus Cyanoramphus unicolor †Cyanoramphus zealandicus Cyanoramphus cooki †Cyanoramphus subflavescnes Cyanoramphus forbesi

Like many other species of birds, the Cyanoramphus parakeets have suffered from changes brought about by humans. The two species from the Society Islands, the black-fronted parakeet and the Society parakeet, are now extinct, as are the taxa from Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island, and an undescribed Campbell Island form. One species, the Malherbe's parakeet (C. malherbi), is critically endangered, while most other species are endangered or vulnerable. Habitat loss and introduced species are considered responsible for the declines and extinctions.^[2]

The genus Cyanoramphus was introduced in 1854 by the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.^[3] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek kuanos meaning "dark-blue" and rhamphos meaning "bill".^[4] The type species was designated by English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 as what is now the extinct black-fronted parakeet (Cyanoramphus zealandicus).^[5][6]

Species

There are 12 recognised species, of which 4 are extinct:^[7]

• † Black-fronted parakeet (C. zealandicus) – Tahiti, French Polynesia
• † Raiatea parakeet (C. ulietanus) – Raiatea, French Polynesia
• New Caledonian parakeet (C. saisseti) – New Caledonia
• Chatham parakeet (C. forbesi), formerly considered a subspecies of C. auriceps^[8][9] – Chatham Islands, New Zealand
• Norfolk parakeet (C. cookii) – Norfolk Island, Australia
• † Lord Howe parakeet (C. subflavescens) – Lord Howe Island, Australia
• Antipodes parakeet (C. unicolor) – Antipodes Islands, New Zealand
• Yellow-crowned parakeet (C. auriceps) – New Zealand
• Malherbe's parakeet or orange-fronted parakeet (C. malherbi), formerly considered a subspecies of C. auriceps^[8][9] – New Zealand
• Red-crowned parakeet (C. novaezelandiae) – New Zealand
• Reischek's parakeet (C. hochstetteri), formerly considered a subspecies of C. novaezelandiae^[9][10] – Antipodes Islands, New Zealand
• † Macquarie parakeet (C. erythrotis)^[11] – Macquarie Island, Australia

There are also subfossil remains from a yet undescribed extinct species from Campbell Island.^[12]

Eunymphicus Cyanoramphus   New Caledonian parakeet (C. saisseti)     Chatham parakeet (C. forbesi)     Norfolk parakeet (C. cookii)   Antipodes parakeet (C. unicolor)     Yellow-crowned parakeet (C. auriceps)       Malherbe's parakeet (C. malherbi)   Reischek's parakeet (C. hochstetteri)     Red-crowned parakeet (C. n. chathamensis)   Red-crowned parakeet (C. n. novaezelandiae)

Phylogeny of Cyanoramphus

References

1. Steadman, D. (2006). Extinction and Biogeography in Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-77142-7.
2. Taylor, R. (1979). "How the Macquarie Island Parakeet became extinct" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 2: 42–45.
3. Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1854). "Tableau des perroquets". Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Appliquée. 2nd series. 6: 145–158 [153].
4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
5. Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 86.
6. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1937). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 269.
7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Parrots, cockatoos". IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
8. Triggs, S.J.; Daugherty, C.H. (1996). "Conservation and genetics of New Zealand parakeets". Conservation International. 6: 89–101. doi:10.1017/S0959270900001337.
9. Boon, W.M.; Kearvell, J.; Daugherty, C.H.; Chambers, G.K. (2001). "Molecular systematics and conservation of kakariki (Cyanoramphus spp.)" (PDF). Science for Conservation. 176.
10. Christidis, L.; Boles, W.E. (2008). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Collingwood, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 978-064309602-8.
11. Chambers, Geoffrey K.; Boon, Wee Ming (2005). "Molecular systematics of Macquarie Island and Reischek's parakeets" (PDF). Notornis. 52 (4): 249–250.
12. Holdaway, R.N.; Thorneycroft, J.M.; McClelland, P.; Bunce, M. (2010). "Former presence of a parakeet (Cyanoramphus sp.) on Campbell Island, New Zealand subantarctic, with notes on the island's fossil sites and fossil record" (PDF). Notornis. 57: 8–18.