Psittaculini

Red-winged parrots Aprosmictus erythropterus, photographed by KityKat79.

Belongs within: Psittaciformes.
Contains: Psittacella, Prioniturus, Eclectus, Psittacula, Alisterus.

The Psittaculini are a lineage of medium-sized long-tailed parrots found in southern Asia and Australasia. The monophyly of this group is supported by molecular analysis (Kloet & Kloet 2005). The tail may be particularly long in species of the genus Polytelis, brightly coloured nomadic birds from southern and central Australia. The vernacular names of these birds reflect their ornate appearance: the princess parrot P. alexandrae, regent parrot P. anthopeplus and superb parrot P. swainsonii.

<==Psittaculini
    |  i. s.: Psittacella B94
    |         Archaeopsittacus Lambrecht 1933 M02
    |           `--*A. verreauxi (Milne-Edwards 1871) [=Psittacus verreauxi, P. verreauxii] M02
    |--+--Prioniturus JT12
    |  `--+--Eclectus KK05
    |     `--Psittacula KK05
    `--+--Polytelis Wagler 1826 KK05, B94 [Polytelini]
       |    |--P. anthopeplus (Lear 1831) [=Palaeornis anthopeplus; incl. Po. a. westralis Mathews 1915] WS48
       |    |    |--P. a. anthopeplus M03
       |    |    `--P. a. monarchoides M03
       |    `--P. swainsonii KK05
       `--+--+--Alisterus KK05
          |  `--‘Polytelis’ alexandrae Gould 1863 JT12, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
          `--Aprosmictus Gould 1843 KK05, M02
               |--A. erythropterus (Gmelin 1788) [=Psittacus erythropterus; incl. A. e. parryensis Mathews 1912] WS48
               |    |--A. e. erythropterus M03
               |    `--A. e. coccineopterus M03
               `--A. jonquillaceus JT12
                    |--A. j. jonquillaceus RN72
                    `--A. j. wetterensis RN72

‘Polytelis’ alexandrae Gould 1863 JT12, WS48 [incl. Spathopterus alexandrae rogersi Mathews 1916 WS48]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444-448.

[KK05] Kloet, R. S. de, & S. R. de Kloet. 2005. The evolution of the spindlin gene in birds: sequence analysis of an intron of the spindlin W and Z gene reveals four major divisions of the Psittaciformes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 706-721.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[M03] Morcombe, M. 2003. Field Guide to Australian Birds, 2^nd ed. Steve Parish Publishing.

[RN72] Rutgers, A., & K. A. Norris (eds.) 1972. Encyclopaedia of Aviculture vol. 2. Blandford Press: London.

[WS48] Whittell, H. M. & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1-126.