The great hanging parrot (''Loriculus stigmatus''), also called Celebes hanging parrot, Sulawesi hanging parrot and maroon-rumped hanging parrot, 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

Psittaculidae Psittaculidae is a family containing Old World parrots. It consists of five subfamilies: Agapornithinae, Loriinae, Platycercinae, Psittacellinae and Psittaculinae. This family has been accepted into ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World' ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

and nearby smaller islands in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, where it occurs in forest,

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

growth and tall

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

Description and taxonomy

With a total length of approximately 15 cm, it is a small parrot, but the largest species of

hanging parrot Hanging parrots are birds in the genus ''Loriculus'', a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia. About long, hanging parrots are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species. They a ...

. It has traditionally been considered

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 "unispec ...

, but recent work has re-validated the

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

''croconotus'' from

Muna Muna may refer to: Places * Muna (Mikulovice), a World War II POW camp and ammunition factory in the Czech Republic * Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Muna, Iran, village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Mu ...

and

Buton Island Buton (also Butung, Boeton or Button) is an island in Indonesia located off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi. It covers roughly 4,727 square kilometers in area, or about the size of Madura; it is the 129th largest island in the world and In ...

, and ''quadricolor'' from the

Togian Islands The Togian (or Togean) Islands are an archipelago of 56 islands and many offshore islets, situated in the Gulf of Tomini, off the coast of Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia. The largest islands are Batudaka, Togean, Talatako and Una-Una. Ther ...

, leaving the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...

for the population on Sulawesi itself.Collar, N. J. (2007). ''Taxonomic notes on some insular Loriculus hanging-parrots.'' Bull. B.O.C. 127(2): 97-107. The

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

of the nominate is overall green with an indistinct yellowish tinge to the mantle, and a red chin, leading edge of the wing, rump and crown (the red crown is missing in females). Compared to this, ''L. s. croconotus'' has slightly paler wings and tail, and a relatively distinct yellowish tinge to the mantle, while ''L. s. quadricolor'' has a clear orange-yellow patch on the mantle, a smaller red chin-spot, and a slightly brighter red rump.

Breeding

Sulawesi Hanging parrots nest in tree cavities. There are usually three eggs in a clutch. The female incubates the eggs for 20 days and the chicks leave the nest about 33 days from hatching.

References

Loriculus Birds described in 1843 Endemic birds of Sulawesi Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{parrot-stub