Platycercus

Eastern rosella Platycercus eximius, photographed by Margaret Leggoe.

Belongs within: Platycercini.

Platycercus includes the rosellas, medium-sized long-tailed parrots native to Australia. Members of the genus have mottled backs, with lighter edges around the dark feathers, and contrasting blue, yellow or white cheek patches. Examples include the crimson rosella P. elegans of eastern Australia, which is predominantly red with blue cheeks, wings, tail and mottling on the back.

<==Platycercus Vigors 1825 CC10
    |  i. s.: P. flaviventris S13
    |         P. splendens [=Pyrrhulopsis splendens] S66
    |         P. spurius SJ85
    |         P. varius SJ85
    |         P. zonarius SJ85
    |           |--P. z. zonarius SJ85
    |           `--P. z. semitorquatus SJ85
    |--+--P. elegans (Gmelin 1788) BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
    |  |    |--P. e. elegans CC10
    |  |    |--P. e. melanoptera North 1906 CC10
    |  |    `--P. e. nigrescens Ramsay 1888 CC10
    |  `--P. caledonicus BKB15 [incl. P. c. brownii M03]
    `--+--P. icterotis (Kuhl 1820) BKB15, WS48 [=Psittacus icterotis WS48]
       |    |--P. i. icterotis [incl. P. icterotis salvadori Mathews 1912, P. stanleyii Vigors 1830] WS48
       |    `--P. i. xanthogenys Salvadori 1891 [incl. P. icterotis whitlocki Mathews 1912] WS48
       `--+--P. adelaide BKB15 [=P. elegans adelaidae OMC87; incl. P. fleurieuensis M03, P. subadelaidae M03]
          `--+--P. flaveolus BKB15 [=P. elegans flaveolus OMC87]
             `--+--‘Psephotus’ haematonotus BKB15
                |    |--P. h. haematonotus RN72
                |    `--P. h. caeruleus Condon 1941 RN72
                `--+--P. venustus (Kuhl 1820) BKB15, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
                   `--+--P. adscitus (Latham 1790) OMC87, WS48 [=Psittacus adscitus WS48]
                      |    |--P. a. adscitus OMC87
                      |    |--P. a. amathusiae OMC87
                      |    |--P. a. mackaiensis OMC87
                      |    `--P. a. palliceps OMC87
                      `--P. eximius (Shaw 1792) OMC87, CC10 [=Psittacus eximius CC10]
                           |--P. e. eximius OMC87
                           |--P. e. cecilae [incl. P. eximius splendidus] RN72
                           |--P. e. diemenensis OMC87
                           `--P. e. elecica M03

Platycercus elegans (Gmelin 1788) OMC87, CC10 [=Psittacus elegans CC10; incl. Ps. pennantii Latham 1790 CC10, *Platycercus pennantii CC10]

Platycercus venustus (Kuhl 1820) OMC87, WS48 [=Psittacus venustus WS48, Pl. adscitus venustus WS48; incl. Pl. venustus hillia Mathews 1910 WS48]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

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

[OMC87] Ovenden, J. R., A. G. Mackinlay & R. H. Crozier. 1987. Systematics and mitochondrial genome evolution of Australian rosellas (Aves: Platycercidae). Molecular Biology and Evolution 4 (5): 526–543.

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

[S13] Sarasin, F. 1913. Die Vögel Neu-Caledoniens und der Loyalty-Inseln. In: Sarasin, F., & J. Roux (eds) Nova Caledonia: Forschungen in Neu-Caledonian und auf den Loyalty-Inseln. A. Zoologie vol. 1 pt 1 pp. 1–78, pls 1–3. C. W. Kreidels Verlag: Wiesbaden.

[S66] Sclater, P. L. 1866. Remarks on recent additions to the Society's menagerie. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 203.

[SJ85] Storr, G. M., & R. E. Johnstone. 1985. Field Guide to the Birds of Western Australia 2^nd ed. Western Australian Museum: Perth (Australia).

[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.

Last updated: 28 July 2019.