The iris lorikeet (''Saudareos iris'') is a small, up to long, green

lorikeet Loriini is a tribe of small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries. The species form a monophyletic group within the p ...

bird. The male has a red forehead, yellow nape, purple band back from eye between nape and cheek, and yellowish below. The female almost similar with red-marked green forecrown and yellowish green cheek. The iris lorikeet is distributed in the forests and woodlands on the islands of

Wetar Wetar is a tropical island which belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Maluku Barat Daya Islands (literally ''Southwest Islands'') Regency of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, ...

and

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

in the

Lesser Sundas The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pr ...

. It is found from sea level to altitude of . The iris lorikeet is usually found in small flocks. Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and illegal trapping for the caged-bird trade, the iris lorikeet is evaluated as Near Threatened on

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of

CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...

Taxonomy

The iris lorikeet was formerly placed in the genus ''

Psitteuteles The varied lorikeet (''Psitteuteles versicolor''), is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that is endemic to the northern coastal regions of Australia. It is the only species in the genus ''Psitteuteles''. Taxonomy The first depictio ...

'' but was moved to a newly introduced genus ''

Saudareos ''Saudareos'' is a genus of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. Species identified within this genus include lorikeets from the Philippines and Indonesia. Taxonomy The genus ''Saudareos'' was introduced in 2020 for a clade of lorikeets that for ...

'' based on the results of a molecular genetic analysis of the lorikeets published in 2020. There are two or three poorly differentiated subspecies: *''S. i iris'' (West Timor) - *''S. i. wetterensis'' (Wetar) – larger area of darker green on side of head. *''S. i. rubripileum'' (East Timor) – hindcrown also red, violet-blue band on hindneck.

Description

The iris lorikeet is long. It is mostly green with pale-green transverse striations on its underside. The head is red above the eye and there is a purple band from the eyes extending over the ears. The beak is red-orange, the iris is orange, and the legs are bluish-grey. The male and female are almost identical, but the red on the head of the female is paler and less extensive. Juveniles resemble females, but have a brownish bill, brown irises, duller purple bands and less red on the head. The extent and shade of the red and purple on the head varies between two or three subspecies.Forshaw (2006). plate 14.

References

Cited texts

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Oriental Bird Images: ''Iris Lorikeet''
Selected photos iris lorikeet Birds of Timor Birds of Wetar Near threatened animals Near threatened biota of Asia iris lorikeet Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{parrot-stub