Eastern rosella
| Eastern rosella | |
|---|---|
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| P. e. diemenensis (male) | |
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| P. e. diemenensis (female) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Superfamily: | Psittacoidea |
| Family: | Psittaculidae |
| Subfamily: | Platycercinae |
| Tribe: | Platycercini |
| Genus: | Platycercus |
| Species: | P. eximius |
| Binomial name | |
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Platycercus eximius (Shaw, 1792) |
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The eastern rosella (Platycercus eximius) is a rosella native to southeast of the Australian continent and to Tasmania.
It has been introduced to New Zealand where feral populations are found in the North Island (notably in the northern half of the island and in the Hutt Valley) and in the hills around Dunedin in the South Island.
The eastern rosella was named by George Shaw in 1792. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the pale-headed rosella (P. adscitus). The term 'white-cheeked rosella' has been used for a species or superspecies combining the pale-headed and eastern forms. Hybrids of the two taxa have been recorded where their ranges meet in northeastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. However, a mitochondrial study published in 2017 found that the eastern rosella was the earlier offshoot of the lineage that split into the pale-headed and northern rosellas, and that nonsister taxa were hence able to hybridise.
Three subspecies of eastern rosella are recognised:
The eastern rosella is 30 cm (12 in) long. It has a red head and white cheeks. The beak is white and the irises are brown. The upper breast is red and the lower breast is yellow fading to pale green over the abdomen. The feathers of the back and shoulders are black, and have yellowish or greenish margins giving rise to a scalloped appearance that varies slightly between the subspecies and the sexes. The wings and lateral tail feathers are bluish while the tail is dark green. The legs are grey. The female is similar to the male though duller in colouration and has an underwing stripe, which is not present in the adult male. Juveniles are duller than females and have an underwing stripe. The diet of eastern rosellas mainly consists of fruit, seeds, flowers and insects.
Natural range is eastern Australia, down to Tasmania. The eastern rosella is found in lightly wooded country, open forests, woodlands, gardens, bushlands and parks.
The eastern rosella (Platycercus eximius) has become naturalised in New Zealand. By the 1970s the population, probably originally from cage escapees, strongly established throughout Auckland, Northland, & the far north, extending into west Waikato, as far south as Kawhia, & Te Kuiti, & East to the Coromandel Peninsula. Also in the Wellington-Hutt Valley Region, established in the 1960s from escaped cage birds, later colonising the foothills of the Tararua Range, to Eketahuna in the east, & Otaki in the west (range up to 1985). Sightings from New Plymouth, Taupo, Gisborne, Tiritea, Banks Peninsula, Nelson area, & Stewart Island. The first occurrence of these parrots in New Zealand was about 1910 when a small shipment of eastern rosellas, as well as a few crimson rosellas (P. elegans), that had been refused entry into New Zealand by the Customs Department was released off Otago Heads by the ship that brought them, as she was returning to Sydney. The two species crossed & by 1955 no pure Crimson Rosellas remained in the Dunedin area. The population of rosellas in Dunedin has always remained low, partially due to them being trapped and sold as caged birds, and the fact that the climate can be extremely cold in comparison to their native habitat.
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Wikipedia