Psittrichasiidae

Psittrichasiidae
Pesquet's parrot (Psittrichas fulgidus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Psittaciformes
Superfamily:	Psittacoidea
Family:	Psittrichasiidae Boetticher, 1959
Subfamilies
Coracopsinae Psittrichasinae

Psittrichasiidae is a family of birds belonging to the superfamily of the true parrots (Psittacoidea). ^[1] It is a very small family, the smallest of the three families of the true parrots. It is divided into two subfamilies: Psittrichasinae and Coracopsinae, ^[1] that contain a single genus each. The first contains a single species, native to New Guinea, and the second contains four living species distributed throughout Madagascar and other islands of the Indian Ocean.

Genera

The family Psittrichasiidae contains two subfamilies:

Subfamily Psittrichasinae:

• Genus Psittrichas
  • Psittrichas fulgidus - Pesquet's parrot

Subfamily Coracopsinae

• Genus Coracopsis
  • Coracopsis barklyi - Seychelles black parrot
  • Coracopsis nigra - Lesser vasa parrot
  • Coracopsis vasa - Greater vasa parrot
  • Coracopsis sibilans - Comoros black parrot (split from Coracopsis nigra)

Recent studies indicate that the extinct Mascarene parrot (Mascarinus mascarinus) was closely related to the members of Coracopsis. ^[2]

References

1. Leo Joseph, Alicia Toon, Erin E. Schirtzinger, Timothy F. Wright, Richard Schodde. 2012. A revised nomenclature and classification for family-group taxa of parrots (Psittaciformes) Archived 2013-12-11 at the Wayback Machine Zootaxa 3205: 26–40.
2. Kundu, S.; Jones, C. G.; Prys-Jones, R. P.; Groombridge, J. J. (2011). "The evolution of the Indian Ocean parrots (Psittaciformes): Extinction, adaptive radiation and eustacy". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 62 (1): 296–305. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.09.025. PMID   22019932.