Violet-necked Lory
Trichoglossus squamatus
A spectacular red parrot with a deep purple-blue belly. Limited to the Moluccas, where variation may represent two species. In north, shows a diagnostic purple collar that is lacking in southern island populations, which show entirely red heads. Juveniles are red underneath with purple feather edging. Gregarious, found in pairs and groups within canopy in forest, forest edge, and plantations in lowlands and foothills. Northern forms are distinguished from Chattering Lory by the blue belly, red-and-blue wings, and blue collar. Gives various loud screeches that can sound like “WIT,” “KIT,” “ER,” and a shrill “EEK.”
Identification
The violet-necked lory is 27 cm (11 in) long. It bears a strong resemblance to the female eclectus parrot except it has an orange-yellow beak. It is mostly red and blue with a blue abdomen. its extent of blue neck collar depends on subspecies. It has red and black in wings and a purple-red tail.
Taxonomy
The violet-necked lory was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen obtained from the island of Gebe in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Psittacus squamatus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The violet-necked lory is now placed in the genus Eos that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek eōs meaning "dawn". The specific epithet squamata is from the Latin squamatus meaning "scaled".<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Trichoglossus squamatus
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittaculidae
- Genus
- Trichoglossus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Nomadic movement
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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