New Zealand parrot

For the native and introduced parrots of New Zealand in general, see Parrots of New Zealand.

New Zealand parrots
Temporal range: Early Miocene to present
Kākā, North Island subspecies
(Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis)
at Auckland Zoo, New Zealand
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Superfamily: Strigopoidea
Bonaparte, 1849
Family: Strigopidae
Bonaparte, 1849
Genera
Synonyms
  • Nestoridae Bonaparte, 1849

The New Zealand parrot family, Strigopidae,[1] consists of at least three genera of parrots – Nestor, Strigops, the fossil Nelepsittacus,[2][3] and probably the fossil Heracles.[4] The genus Nestor consists of the kea, kākā, Norfolk kākā and Chatham kākā,[5][6] while the genus Strigops contains the iconic kākāpō.[5] All extant species are endemic to New Zealand.[7] The species of the genus Nelepsittacus were endemics of the main islands, while the two extinct species of the genus Nestor were found at the nearby oceanic islands such as Chatham Island of New Zealand, and Norfolk Island and adjacent Phillip Island.

The Norfolk kākā and the Chatham kākā have become extinct in recent times,[8][9] while the species of the genus Nelepsittacus have been extinct for 16 million years. All extant species, the kākāpō, kea, and the two subspecies of the kākā, are threatened.[10][11][12] Human activity caused the two extinctions and the decline of the other three species. Settlers introduced invasive species, such as pigs, cats, foxes, weasels, rats and possums, which eat the eggs of ground-nesting birds, and additional declines have been caused by hunting for food, killing as agricultural pests, habitat loss, and introduced wasps.[13][14][15]

The family diverged from the other parrots around 82 million years ago when New Zealand broke off from Gondwana, while the ancestors of the genera Nestor and Strigops diverged from each other between 60 and 80 million years ago.[16][17]

  1. ^ Nestoridae and Strigopidae are described in the same article, Bonaparte, C.L. (1849) Conspectus Systematis Ornithologiae. Therefore, under rules of the ICZN, the first reviser determines priority, which is Bonaparte, C.L. (1850), Conspectus Generum Avium, E.J. Brill, Leyden.
  2. ^ Christidis L, Boles WE (2008). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Canberra: CSIRO Publishing. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-643-06511-6.
  3. ^ Worthy, Trevor H.; Tennyson, Alan J. D.; Scofield, R. Paul (2011). "An early Miocene diversity of parrots (Aves, Strigopidae, Nestorinae) from New Zealand". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (5): 1102–16. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.595857. S2CID 86361015.
  4. ^ Worthy, Trevor H.; Hand, Suzanne J.; Archer, Michael; Schofield, R. Paul; De Pietri, Vanesa L. (2019). "Evidence for a giant parrot from the early Miocene of New Zealand". Biology Letters. 15 (8): 20190467. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0467. PMC 6731479. PMID 31387471.
  5. ^ a b 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.
  6. ^ Millener, P. R. (1999). "The history of the Chatham Islands' bird fauna of the last 7000 years – a chronicle of change and extinction. Proceedings of the 4th International meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution (Washington, D.C., June 1996)". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 89: 85–109.
  7. ^ Forshaw, Joseph Michael (2017). Vanished and vanishing parrots : profiling extinct and endangered species. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 978-1501704697. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  8. ^ Millener, P. R. (1999). "The history of the Chatham Islands' bird fauna of the last 7000 years – a chronicle of change and extinction. Proceedings of the 4th International meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution (Washington, D.C., June 1996)". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 89: 85–109.
  9. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Nestor productus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22684834A93049105. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22684834A93049105.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  10. ^ BirdLife International (2018). "Strigops habroptila". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22685245A129751169. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22685245A129751169.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is endangered,
  11. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Nestor meridionalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22684840A93049267. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22684840A93049267.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is endangered.
  12. ^ BirdLife International (2017). "Nestor notabilis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22684831A119243358. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22684831A119243358.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is endangered.
  13. ^ "Threats to Kākāpō". Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawbai. Archived from the original on 2009-04-04. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
  14. ^ "Threats to Kākā". Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawbai. Archived from the original on 2008-12-31. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference DOC-Kea was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Wright, T.F.; Schirtzinger E. E.; Matsumoto T.; Eberhard J. R.; Graves G. R.; Sanchez J. J.; Capelli S.; Muller H.; Scharpegge J.; Chambers G. K.; Fleischer R. C. (2008). "A Multilocus Molecular Phylogeny of the Parrots (Psittaciformes): Support for a Gondwanan Origin during the Cretaceous". Mol Biol Evol. 25 (10): 2141–2156. doi:10.1093/molbev/msn160. PMC 2727385. PMID 18653733.
  17. ^ Grant-Mackie, E.J.; J.A. Grant-Mackie; W.M. Boon; G.K. Chambers (2003). "Evolution of New Zealand Parrots". NZ Science Teacher. 103.