Racket-tail

This article is about the genus of parrots. For the hummingbird, see Booted racket-tail.

Racket-tails
Blue-crowned racket-tail
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Psittaciformes
Family:	Psittaculidae
Tribe:	Psittaculini
Genus:	Prioniturus Wagler, 1832
Type species
Psittacus platurus [1] Vieillot, 1818

The genus Prioniturus, commonly known as racket-tails, contains ten species in the parrot family Psittaculidae that are found in the Philippines and Indonesia. They are easily distinguished from all other parrots by their elongated central tail feathers with the bare shaft and spatula at the end. ^[2]

Taxonomy

The genus Prioniturus was introduced in 1832 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler to accommodate a single speces, Psittacus platurus Vieillot, the golden-mantled racket-tail. This is the type species of the genus. ^{[3] [4]} The word Prioniturus combines the genus name Prionites introduced for the motmots by the German zoologist Johann Illiger in 1811 with the Ancient Greek ουρα/oura meaning "tail". ^[5]

The genus contains ten species: ^[6]

• Buru racket-tail, Prioniturus mada – Buru (central west Moluccas)
• Golden-mantled racket-tail, Prioniturus platurus – Sulawesi, satellites and Celebes Sea islands.
• Mindanao racket-tail, Prioniturus waterstradti – montane Mindanao (south Philippines)
• Montane racket-tail, Prioniturus montanus – montane north Luzon (north Philippines)
• Blue-headed racket-tail, Prioniturus platenae – Palawan group (southwest Philippines)
• Mindoro racket-tail, Prioniturus mindorensis – Mindoro (central north Philippines)
• Blue-winged racket-tail, Prioniturus verticalis – Sulu Archipelago (south Philippines)
• Yellow-breasted racket-tail, Prioniturus flavicans – north Sulawesi, Bangka Island and Lembeh (north, east of northeast Sulawesi) and Togian Islands (between northeast and central east Sulawesi)
• Green racket-tail, Prioniturus luconensis – Luzon (north Philippines)
• Blue-crowned racket-tail, Prioniturus discurus – Philippines (except north Luzon, Mindoro and Palawan group)

References

1. "Psittaculidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
2. Forshaw, Joseph M.; Cooper, William T. (1981) [1973, 1978]. Parrots of the World (corrected second ed.). David & Charles, Newton Abbot, London. ISBN   0-7153-7698-5.
3. Wagler, Johann Georg (1832). "Monographia Psittacorum". Abhandlungen der mathematisch-physikalischen Classe, Königlich-Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (in German and Latin). 1: 463-750 [490-491].
4. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1937). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 236.
5. Jobling, James A. "Prioniturus". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Parrots, cockatoos". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 26 October 2025.