Psitteuteles

Psitteuteles
Varied lorikeet (Psitteuteles versicolor)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Psittaciformes
Family:	Psittaculidae
Tribe:	Loriini
Genus:	Psitteuteles Bonaparte, 1854
Synonyms
Parvipsitta Mathews, 1916

Psitteuteles is a genus of parrots in the family Psittaculidae. The three species in the genus are native to Australia.

Taxonomy

The genus Psitteuteles was introduced in 1854 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte who listed several species in the genus but did not specify the type species. ^{[1] [2]} In 1855 George Gray designated the type as Psittacus versicolor Vigors (i.e. Psittacus versicolor Lear), the varied lorikeet. ^[3] The genus name is from the binomial Psittacus euteles that the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck had introduced in 1835 for the olive-headed lorikeet. This species is now placed in the genus Trichoglossus . ^{[4] [5]}

The genus contains three species: ^[5]

Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Varied lorikeet	Psitteuteles versicolor	northern Australia (Kimberley region, northern Western Australia, eastward to southwestern Cape York Peninsula, southern Queensland)
	Little lorikeet	Psitteuteles pusillus	eastern and southeastern Australia (Wet Tropics region, southern Queensland, southward to southeastern South Australia)
	Purple-crowned lorikeet	Psitteuteles porphyrocephalus	southern Australia (southwestern Western Australia, southern South Australia including Kangaroo Island, western Victoria, and south-western New South Wales)

References

1. Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1854). "Tableau des perroquets". Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Appliquée. 2nd series (in French). 6: 145–158 [157].
2. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1937). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 151.
3. Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 88.
4. Jobling, James A. "Psitteuteles". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
5. AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi: 10.2173/avilist.v2025 . Retrieved 9 November 2025. See Errata.