Psittacinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...

Afrotropical The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

or Old World

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 ...

s, native to

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

, which include twelve

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

and two

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

genera 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 nomenclat ...

. Among the species is the iconic grey parrot. The '' Poicephalus'' are usually green birds with different colored heads; the larger '' Psittacus'' are light grey with red tails. African parrots (at least the grey parrot) have been known in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

since

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times. The African parrots, unlike their Neotropical cousins, are

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

: ''

Agapornis Lovebird is the common name for the genus ''Agapornis'', a small group of parrots in the Old World parrot family Psittaculidae. Of the nine species in the genus, all are native to the African continent, with the grey-headed lovebird being nati ...

'' of Africa and Madagascar was found to be the sister group to '' Loriculus'' of Australasia and Indo-Malayasia and together they clustered with the Australasian ''

Loriinae Loriinae is a subfamily of psittacine birds, one of the five subfamilies that make up the family Psittaculidae. It consists of three tribes, the lories and lorikeets ( Loriini), the budgerigar ( Melopsittacini) and the fig parrots ( Cyclopsittini ...

'', '' Cyclopsittacini'' and ''

Melopsittacus The budgerigar ( ; ''Melopsittacus undulatus''), also known as the common parakeet or shell parakeet, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot usually nicknamed the budgie ( ), or in American English, the parakeet. Budgies are the only sp ...

''. '' Poicephalus'' and '' Psittacus'' from mainland Africa formed the sister group of the Neotropical '' Arinae'' and '' Coracopsis'' from Madagascar and adjacent islands may be the closest relative of ''

Psittrichas Pesquet's parrot (''Psittrichas fulgidus''), also known as the Dracula parrot or as the vulturine parrot (leading to easy confusion with '' Pyrilia vulturina'' from Brazil), is the only member of its genus. It is endemic to hill and montane rai ...

'' from New Guinea.

Taxonomy

This subfamily, together with its sister subfamily Arinae of Neotropical parrots, constitutes 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 Neotropi ...

, one of three families of true parrots. Traditionally, the genus ''Coracopsis'' ( vasa parrots) is included in this subfamily, but recent molecular studies show that they are within a different family. An extinct prehistoric

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 "unispe ...

genus '' Bavaripsitta'' has been described.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1074819 Bird subfamilies Psittacidae * Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque