The crimson-bellied parakeet (''Pyrrhura perlata''), more commonly known as the crimson-bellied conure in

aviculture Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds, especially of wild birds in captivity. Types There are various reasons that people get involved in aviculture. Some people breed birds to preserve a species. Some people breed parrots a ...

, is a species of

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...

in the family

Psittacidae The family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the roughly 10 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Old World or Afrotropical parrots) and 157 of subfamily Arinae (the New World or Neotropic ...

Taxonomy

Its

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

history is potentially confusing. It was formerly known as ''Pyrrhura rhodogaster'', but following a review it was discovered that the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

for ''P. perlata'', long believed to belong to the closely related

pearly parakeet The pearly parakeet (''Pyrrhura lepida''), more commonly known as the pearly conure in aviculture, is a species of parrot that is endemic to east Amazonian forests in Brazil.Collar, N. J. (1997). Pearly Parakeet (Pyrrhura lepida). Pp. 440 i ...

, actually was a juvenile crimson-bellied parakeet. Consequently, ''P. perlata'' was transferred to this species, while ''P. rhodogaster'' became a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

Description

''Pyrrhura perlata'' adults are partly green in colour. They have yellow/green cheeks, turning to blue on lower cheeks. The breast is brown with pale off-white and dark brown barring. Crimson-bellied parakeets have a blue collar around their hindnecks, varying with each bird. They have red bend of wing, lesser underwing coverts; blue thighs to tail coverts The tail is brown/red. ''Pyrrhura perlata'' has a brown/grey

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...

. Its eye ring are bare and white. Its eyes are dark brown. Crimson-bellied conures weigh about 85–94 g. File:Pyrrhura perlata - Karlsruhe Zoo 01.jpg File:Pyrrhura perlata - Karlsruhe Zoo 02.jpg

Distribution and habitat

It is found in the south-central

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. It remains locally fairly common, but is threatened by accelerating

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

in its range and consequently considered to be least concern by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Food and feeding

This species prefers dense vegetation from the secondary forests and forest margins. Their diet consists primarily of fruits of ''

Trema micrantha ''Trema micrantha'', the Jamaican nettletree or capulin, is a plant species native to warmer parts of the Western Hemisphere. It has been reported from Mexico, Central America, tropical South America, the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola ...

'', various palms, ''

Cecropia ''Cecropia'' is a Neotropical genus consisting of 61 recognized species with a highly distinctive lineage of dioecious trees. The genus consists of pioneer trees in the more or less humid parts of the Neotropics, with the majority of the speci ...

'', and flowers like ''

Bertholletia excelsa The Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'') is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest. ...

''.Low, Rosemary, 2013. Pyrrhura Parakeets (Conures): Aviculture, Natural History, Conservation. Insignis Publications. Print.

References

Notes

Sources

* Pyrrhura Birds of Brazil Birds of Bolivia Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds described in 1824 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{parrot-stub