The lilac-tailed parrotlet (''Touit batavicus'') is a species of bird in subfamily

Arinae The neotropical parrots or New World parrots comprise about 150 species in 32 genera found throughout South America, South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and the southern United States. Among them are some of the most familia ...

of the family

Psittacidae The Family (biology), family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the 12 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Afrotropics, Afrotropical parrots) and 167 of subfamily Arinae (the New World or ...

, the African and New World parrots. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. 30 January 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved January 30, 2023

Taxonomy and systematics

The lilac-tailed parrotlet was described by the French polymath

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French Natural history, naturalist, mathematician, and cosmology, cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now ca ...

in 1780 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by

François-Nicolas Martinet François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - c. 1800) was a French engineer, engraver and naturalist. Although trained as an engineer and draftsman, he began to produce engravings for books and it later became his primary profession. Martinet's year of b ...

in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of

Edme-Louis Daubenton Edme-Louis Daubenton (12 August 1730 – 12 December 1785) was a French naturalist. Daubenton was the cousin of another French naturalist, Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton. Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon engaged Edme-Louis Daubenton to su ...

to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist

Pieter Boddaert Pieter Boddaert (1730 – 6 May 1795) was a Dutch physician and naturalist. Early life, family and education Boddaert was the son of a Middelburg jurist and poet by the same name (1694–1760). The younger Pieter obtained his M.D. at the Univers ...

coined 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 ...

''Psittaca batavica'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. Buffon believed that his specimen had come from Batavia (modern

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

) but the German ornithologist

Hans von Berlepsch Count Hans Hermann Carl Ludwig von Berlepsch (29 July 1850 – 27 February 1915) was a German ornithologist who took an interest in the birds of South America. He also had a cousin named Baron Sittich Hans von Berlepsch (1857-1933) with whom he w ...

realised this was an error and in 1908 substituted Venezuela as the type locality. The lilac-tailed parrotlet is now placed in the

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 ...

Touit ''Touit'' is a genus of Neotropical parrots in the family Psittacidae. The genus was introduced by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 with the scarlet-shouldered parrotlet (''Touit huetii'') as the type species. The genus name ...

'' that was introduced 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 ...

in 1855. The genus name is derived from the extinct

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

that was spoken by native people in Brazil: ''Tuí eté'' means "really little parrot". The lilac-tailed parrotlet is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

Description

The violet-tailed parrotlet is about long and weighs . Its head is mostly yellow with green ear

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

. The sides of its neck are green and its nape has a dusky scaled appearance. Its back and wings are black and its greater wing coverts are yellowish green with green-blue edges and a red carpal bar. Its tail is purplish rose with a black band near the end. Its throat is green, its breast pale blue, its belly green, and its underwing coverts blue.Collar, N. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Lilac-tailed Parrotlet (''Touit batavicus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.litpar2.01 retrieved February 18, 2023

Distribution and habitat

The violet-tailed parrotlet is found discontinuously across northern South America. The regions include Colombia's

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

, two coastal areas in Venezuela, the island of Trinidad, and a broad swath from eastern Venezuela through Guyana and Suriname and across much of French Guiana. In most of its range it inhabits lowland deciduous forest but in Colombia and the

Venezuelan Coastal Range The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System (), is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the central and eastern portions of Venezuela's northern coa ...

it occurs in

cloudforest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, ...

between . It uses both pristine and disturbed

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

Behavior

Movement

The violet-tailed parrotlet is non-migratory but appears to be somewhat nomadic.

Feeding

The violet-tailed parrotlet does most of its foraging in the morning. Its diet includes flowers, nectar, buds, berries, seeds, and fruits.

Breeding

The violet-tailed parrotlet's breeding season has not been determined. Fledglings have been noter in December in Suriname and between January and March on Trinidad. The species nests in a cavity such as a hollow limb or one it excavates in an arboreal termite nest. The clutch size is five or six eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.

Vocalization

The violet-tailed parrotlet's most common calls are "a slightly nasal “ryee” or “nee-ryee”." Large flocks in flight make "a continuous, monotonous, noisy chattering." It also makes "a very nasal “naaee” or “rrhaaee”" when perched.

Status

The

IUCN 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 status ...

has assessed the violet-tailed parrotlet as being of Least Concern. It has a fairly large range, but its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. Sources differ on how much it is used in the pet trade. It occurs in one national park in Venezuela.

References

External links

World Parrot Trust
Parrot Encyclopedia - Species Profiles {{Taxonbar, from=Q1057518 lilac-tailed parrotlet Birds of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Birds of the Venezuelan Coastal Range Birds of the Guiana Shield Birds of Trinidad and Tobago lilac-tailed parrotlet Taxonomy articles created by Polbot