Malherbe's Parakeet

Malherbe's Parakeet
At Isaac Peacock Springs wildlife refuge, New Zealand
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Psittaciformes
Family:	Psittacidae
Genus:	Cyanoramphus
Species:	C. malherbi
Binomial name
Cyanoramphus malherbi Souancé, 1857

The Malherbe's Parakeet, Cyanoramphus malherbi, is a small parrot endemic to New Zealand. In New Zealand it is commonly known as the Orange-fronted Parakeet, a name it shares with a species from Middle America. The species is critically endangered with less than 50 individuals left in the wild.^[1]

For many years the Malherbe's Parakeet was considered a subspecies or as colour variant ^[2] of the commoner Yellow-crowned Parakeet. More recent research has shown that it is a valid species.^[3] They live in Nothofagus forest in the South Island of New Zealand, although they may have had a wider range of habitats prior to the arrival of humans. They have been threatened by the felling of old growth forest, which provided the older trees which they nested in, by overgrazing of the low bushes which they fed in, and by predation by introduced rats, stoats and cats. 

The species name honours the French ornithologist Alfred Malherbe

References

1. ^ BirdLife International (2007) Species factsheet: Cyanoramphus malherbi. Downloaded from www.birdlife.org on 18/6/2007
2. ^ Arndt, T.: Lexicon of Parrots
3. ^ Boon, W.M.; Kearvell, J.; Daugherty, C. H.; Chambers, G. K. (2001): Molecular systematics and conservation of kakariki (Cyanoramphus spp.). Science for Conservation 176 PDF fulltext

External links

• Movies of the Malherbe's Parakeet at IBC.org