The genus ''Polytelis'' (literally translates into 'magnificent') of 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 ...

consists of three species long-tailed

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 ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Traditionally, it was included in the Australian

broad-tailed parrot A broad-tailed parrot is any of about 35–40 species belonging to the tribe Platycercini. The members of the tribe are small to medium in size, and all are native to Australasia, Australia in particular, but also New Zealand, New Caledonia, and n ...

s (tribe Platycercini), but molecular studies place the genus within the

Polytelini The Polytelini tribe belongs to the parrot family Psittaculidae and consists of three genera.Joseph L., Alicia Toon, Erin E. Schirtzinger, Timothy F. Wright, Richard SchoddeA revised nomenclature and classification for family-group taxa of parrot ...

. A 2017 molecular study placed the regent parrot as an early offshoot to the genus ''Asprosmictus'' and not as closely related to the other two species.

Taxonomy

The genus has three species.

References

Psittaculini Bird genera Endemic birds of Australia {{parrot-stub