The ornate lorikeet (''Saudareos ornata''), sometimes named the ornate lory, 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 Psittacoide ...

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 else ...

to the Sulawesi archipelago 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 ...

.Coates, B. J., & K. D. Bishop (1997). ''A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea.'' Dove Publications Pty. Ltd. It is found in forest, woodland, mangrove and plantations, and is locally common.

Taxonomy

The ornate lorikeet was formally described by the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1758 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Psittacus ornatus''. Linnaeus based his description of the "Lory Parrakeet" that had been described and illustrated in 1751 by George Edwards in his "A Natural History of Uncommon Birds". Linnaeus mistakenly specified the

location In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

as "America" although Edwards had stated that the bird had come from the "

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...

" (actually the Indonesian island of Sulawesi). The ornate lorikeet was formerly placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Trichoglossus ''Trichoglossus'' is a genus of lorikeet in the Psittaculidae or true parrot superfamily. The genus is distributed widely through Australia, Wallacea and Melanesia, with outliers in the Philippines and Micronesia. Members of the genus are ch ...

'' but was moved to a newly introduced genus ''

Saudareos ''Saudareos'' is a genus of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Saudareos'' was introduced in 2020 for a clade of lorikeets that form a sister taxon, sister clade to ''Eos''. The type species is the ornate lorikeet. The genu ...

'' based on the results of a molecular genetic analysis of the lorikeets published in 2020.

Description

Trichoglossus ornatus -upper body -Nashville Zoo-8a

The ornate lorikeet is a mainly green parrot about 25 cm (10.0 in) long. Its head above its eyes is purple-blue and its face below its eyes is red. There is red at back of the head and yellow behind the eyes. It does not have a collar at the back of the neck that

rainbow lorikeets The rainbow lorikeet (''Trichoglossus moluccanus'') is a species of parrot found in Australia. It is common along the eastern seaboard, from northern Queensland to South Australia. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas. S ...

have. Its chin to chest has transverse strips and bars of red and blue. Its abdomen is green with sparse variable yellow scalloping. The beak is orange-red, the irises are dark orange, the eye-ring is dark grey, and the legs are grey. plate 13.

Behavior

The ornate lorikeet usually gathers in pairs or in small flocks, though large flocks have been observed. It may sometimes form mixed flocks with the yellow and green lorikeet.

References

External links

Oriental Bird Images: ''Ornate Lorikeet''
Selected photos {{Taxonbar, from=Q580177 ornate lorikeet Endemic birds of Sulawesi ornate lorikeet ornate lorikeet Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN