The Manu parrotlet (''Nannopsittaca dachilleae'') or Amazonian parrotlet is a species of

parrotlet Parrotlets are a group of the smallest New World parrot species, comprising several genera, namely '' Forpus'', ''Nannopsittaca'', and '' Touit''. They have stocky builds and short tails and are endemic to Middle and South America. They resembl ...

native to the western

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

, from southern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

to northwest

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 is found in lowland forests near bamboo and rivers. It is classified as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

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 ...

Taxonomy and naming

The Manu parrotlet was discovered in 1985 by John P. O’Neill, Charles A. Munn, and Irma Franke while exploring the

Manú River The Manú is a river in southeastern Peru. It runs down the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains into the Amazon Basin. It runs through what is now protected as the Manú National Park, a vast Biosphere Reserve, home to arguably the highest con ...

in the

Manú National Park Manú National Park ( es, Parque Nacional del Manú) is a national park and biosphere reserve located in the regions of Madre de Dios and Cusco in Peru. It protects a diverse number of ecosystems including lowland rainforests, cloud forests and ...

in eastern Peru. The new species was named after the scientists' colleague, conservationist and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Barbara D’Achille.Details for D’ACHILLE, BARBARA
. Newseum.org. Retrieved on 2013-03-26. The generic name is from Latin ''nānus'' dwarf, from Greek ''nanos'' dwarf + Latin ''psittaca'' feminine of ''psittacus'' parrot, from Greek ''psittakos'' parrot; ''dachilleae'' a Latinized form of the surname d'Achille, hence the "dwarf parrot of d'Achille".

Description

The upper parts, nape, auriculars, dorsum, tertials, wing covers, rump, upper-tail, and rectrices are bright green. The forehead, anterior crown, and ores are a pale blue. The malar area, breast, belly, and under-tail are a paler more yellowish green. No sexual dimorphism has been described as yet.

Behavior

The bird was consistently measured to be in flocks of anywhere from 5 to 12 birds by the researchers who described it. Flocks make sounds similar to squawking or peeping. One possible nest was observed, a burrow among a cluster of

bromeliads The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

Feeding

It generally tends to forage on the ground for seeds or in mineral deposits left by rivers, especially on the seeds left behind by bamboo in the genus ''

Guadua ''Guadua'' is a Neotropical genus of thorny, clumping bamboo in the grass family, ranging from moderate to very large species. Physically, ''Guadua angustifolia'' is noted for being the largest Neotropical bamboo. The genus is similar to ''Bam ...

''. Another important source of nutrients for the Manu parrotlet is the clay licks, narrow horizons exposed to a vertical bank on a riverbed to consume

Sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

and other minerals that are depositeted there. The Manu parrotlet appeared every two or three days about midday with groups of

dusky-billed parrotlet The dusky-billed parrotlet (''Forpus modestus''), also known as Sclater's parrotlet, is a small species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is the nominate species (''F. m. modestus''). There is one subspecies: ''Forpus modestus sclateri'' ...

(''Forpus sclateri''),

tui parakeet The tui parakeet (''Brotogeris sanctithomae'') is a species of bird in the family Psittacidae, the true parrots. It is found in the Amazon Basin of Brazil, and Amazonian Peru and Bolivia; also a minor range into eastern Ecuador, and the river bor ...

(''Brotogeris sanctithomae''), and

cobalt-winged parakeet The cobalt-winged parakeet (''Brotogeris cyanoptera'') is a species of bird in the family Psittacidae, the true parrots. It is found in the eastern Andean foothills, the far western Amazonian regions in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bo ...

(''B. cyanoptera''), with the Manu parrotlet eating clay for about 30 minutes.

Distribution and habitat

The bird has a patchy distribution throughout Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, with the latter containing the majority of its population. It largely occupies riparian forests, especially those that consist of '' Calocophyllum spruceanum'' and '' Cecropia membranacea''.

Conservation

The Manu parrotlet faces primarily

habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes ...

and degradation from industry, especially mining, and associated road.