tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post3040066853958550032..comments2023-12-24T07:02:43.274+08:00Comments on Catalogue of Organisms: A King among ParrotsChristopher Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11075565866351612441noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-84310137465267562652011-06-29T16:21:54.609+08:002011-06-29T16:21:54.609+08:00'Platycercines' as a whole seem to be havi...'Platycercines' as a whole seem to be having a hard time of it lately: other genera such as <i>Melopsittacus</i> have also been placed elsewhere, so the 'true platycercines' represent an ever-dwindling circle of taxa. It's not really surprising that parrot classification has been such a minefield, though. Despite their apparent flashiness, parrots are generally a rather conservative group of birds, with few really obvious outliers: <i>Nestor</i>, <i>Strigops</i>, <i>Psittrichas</i> and the cockatoos are probably the most morphologically distinctive parrots.<br /><br />In terms of hybrids, IIRC Rutgers & Norris (1972) refer to a report of a budgerigar x cockatiel hybrid, albeit with more than a little scepticism.Christopher Taylorhttp://coo.fieldofscience.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-65493034547978869712011-06-29T00:01:32.466+08:002011-06-29T00:01:32.466+08:00I believe that in Rosemary Low's 'Encyclop...I believe that in Rosemary Low's 'Encyclopedia of Lories' it is also mentioned that an *Alisterus* species has hybridised with *Trichoglossus haematodus*. Unfortunately, I don't have the book with me here so I can't check.<br />Such a hybrid might not be nearly as surprising as it might seem, as nowadays it's well-established that lories are nested deeply within the 'Indo-Pacific clade' of parrots (though note that this clade excludes *Nestor*,*Strigops*,cockatoos and *Psittrichas* while it includes African *Agapornis*).<br /><br />The position of *Alisterus, *Aprosmictus* and *Polytelis* within the psittaculine part of this clade was not all that clear cut in the past either. They have at times been linked to platycercines though that was before cladistics or molecular phylogeny. <br /><br />Interestingly enough, the very platycercine *Prosopeia* were often considered 'king parrots' too. Forshaw does this in 'Parrots of the world', for example. In a field guide to Australian birds, I even saw the cockatiel (very much a cockatoo!) classified as a 'polytelitid'. Yes, this author employed a very unorthodox parrot classification that included families Polytelitidae, Platycercidae and Opopsittidae. Paradoxically, psittaculines *Geoffroyus* and *Eclectus* were placed in Psittacidae!Briannoreply@blogger.com