The fairy lorikeet (''Charmosynopsis pulchella'') is a species of

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

in the family

Psittaculidae Psittaculidae is a family of parrots, commonly known as Old World parrots, though this term is a misnomer, as not all its members occur in the Old World and Psittacinae also occurs in the Old World. It consists of six subfamilies: Psittricha ...

. Other common names include the little red lorikeet and the little red lory. Found in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s and subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

s. Its colouration is mainly red with some yellow on the throat and green on the wings. Two subspecies are recognised, ''C. p. pulchella'' and ''C. p. rothschildi''.

Taxonomy

The fairy lorikeet was formally described in 1859 by the English zoologist

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoology, zoologist and author, and head of the Ornithology, ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum, London f ...

under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Charmosyna pulchella''. It was moved from the original

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Charmosyna ''Charmosyna'' is a genus of parrots in the family Psittaculidae. The three currently recognized species inhabit moist forests on the island of New Guinea. Taxonomy ''Charmosyna'' contains the following three species: The genus forme ...

'' to the resurrected genus ''

Charmosynopsis ''Charmosynopsis'' is a genus of parrots in the family Psittaculidae that are endemic to New Guinea, the southern Maluku Islands. Taxonomy The genus ''Charmosynopsis'' was introduced in 1877 by the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori with the f ...

'' following the publication of a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study in 2020.

Description

The fairy lorikeet grows to a length of about and weighs between . The male of the nominate subspecies, ''C. p. pulchella'', has the head, nape, breast and underparts red, the breast sometimes being streaked with yellow. The back of the crown has a purplish spot. The mantle, back and wings are dark green, as are the upper tail coverts. The upper side of the tail is green tipped with yellow and the central tail feathers are red towards their tips. The underside of the tail is yellow and the thighs are dark purple. The beak is orange and the eye yellowish-orange. The female is similar but the lower back is yellowish-green and the sides of the rump and flanks are yellow. The male ''C. p. rothschildi'' differs in that the breast is green streaked with yellow, while the dark spot on the crown is larger and extends forward to the eye and fades backwards into the green mantle. The upper tail coverts are washed with yellow and the belly is dark purple. The female has a wide green breast band streaked with yellow and a greenish-yellow patch on the side of the rump.

Distribution

The fairy lorikeet is resident on the island of New Guinea. ''C. p. pulchella'' is present in mountainous regions from the Vogelkop Peninsula eastwards to the

Huon Peninsula Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. The peninsula is dominated by the steep Saruwaged and Finist ...

and the southeastern part of the island, as well as in the Fakfak Mountains in the

Bomberai Peninsula Bomberai Peninsula () is located in the Western New Guinea region. It is south of the Bird's Head Peninsula, and Bintuni Bay separates the two peninsulas. To the west lies the Sebakor Bay and to the south Kamrau Bay. On the southeast Arguni ...

. ''C. p. rothschildi'' is found in north and central New Guinea in the Cyclops Mountains and other nearby mountain ranges.

Behaviour

The fairy lorikeet is assumed to feed on pollen and nectar foraged from flowers high in the

forest canopy In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns. In forest ecology, the canopy is the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and includ ...

and is often associated with ''

Melicope ''Melicope'' is a genus of about 240 species of shrubs and trees in the family Rutaceae, occurring from the Hawaiian Islands across the Pacific Ocean to tropical Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Plants in the genus ''Melicope'' have simple or ...

'' trees. Breeding has been observed in December, January and April. A nesting site is often a hole at the base of an epiphytic plant where a clutch of one or two eggs is incubated for about twenty five days.

Status

The fairy lorikeet has a wide range and is common in many places, though less so in other areas where it is collected for the pet trade. The population appears stable and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed its

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q768878 fairy lorikeet Birds of the New Guinea Highlands fairy lorikeet Lorini fairy lorikeet Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Least concern biota of Oceania