Palm Lorikeet
Vini palmarum
An entirely green lorikeet often seen in flight, with a long, pointed yellow-tipped tail and a small reddish patch on the chin. Bill and feet orange. Widespread but dependent on primary forest, intolerant of disturbed areas. No similar species occur in its range. Call is a high-pitched “tsit” or “tsee.”
Taxonomy
The palm lorikeet was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus palmarum. Gmelin based his description on the "Palm parrot" that had been described in 1781 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham specified the origin of his specimen as Tanna, one of the islands in the Vanuatu archipelago. The palm lorikeet was formerly placed in the genus Charmosyna. It was moved to the genus Vini based on a molecular phylogenetic study of the lorikeets published in 2020. Vici had been introduced in 1833 by the French naturalist René Lesson.
- Scientific name
- Vini palmarum
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittaculidae
- Genus
- Vini
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Nomadic movement
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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