Turquoise parrot
| Turquoise Parrot | |
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| Male (left) and female (right) at Rainbow Jungle in Kalbarri, Western Australia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Superfamily: | Psittacoidea |
| Family: | Psittaculidae |
| Subfamily: | Psittaculinae |
| Tribe: | Pezoporini |
| Genus: | Neophema |
| Species: | N. pulchella |
| Binomial name | |
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Neophema pulchella (Shaw, 1792) |
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| Turquoise parrot range | |
| Synonyms | |
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Psittacus edwardsii Bechstein, 1811 |
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Psittacus edwardsii Bechstein, 1811
Lathamus azureus Lesson, 1830
Neophema pulchella dombraini Mathews, 1915
The turquoise parrot (Neophema pulchella) is a species of parrot in the genus Neophema native to Eastern Australia, from southeastern Queensland, through New South Wales and into North-Eastern Victoria. It was described by George Shaw in 1792. A small lightly built parrot at around 20 cm (8 in) long and 40 g (1 1⁄2 oz) in weight, it exhibits sexual dimorphism. The male is predominantly green with more yellowish underparts and a bright turquoise blue face. Its wings are predominantly blue with red shoulders. The female is generally duller and paler, with a pale green breast and yellow belly, and lacks the red wing patch.
Found in grasslands and open woodlands dominated by Eucalyptus and Callitris trees, the turquoise parrot feeds mainly on grasses and seeds and occasionally flowers, fruit and scale insects. It nests in hollows of gum trees. Much of its habitat has been altered and potential nesting sites lost. Predominantly sedentary, the turquoise parrot can be locally nomadic. Populations appear to be recovering from a crash in the early 20th century. The turquoise parrot has been kept in captivity since the 19th century, and several colour variants exist.
Well known around the Sydney district at the time of European settlement in 1788, the turquoise parrot was described by George Shaw as Psittacus pulchellus in 1792. He called it the Turquoisine after its turquoise face patch. The holotype likely ended up in the Leverian collection in England, and was lost when the collection was broken up and sold. German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein gave it the scientific name Psittacus edwardsii in 1811, based on François Levaillant's description of the species as la Perruche Edwards in his 1805 work Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets. Levaillant named it in honour of the English naturalist George Edwards.William Swainson used Shaw's name in 1823 in his work Zoological Illustrations, noting that it was "impossible to represent this superb little creature in its full beauty". Drawing on the previous works, René Primevère Lesson described it as Lathamus azureus in 1830, the species name being the Medieval Latin word azureus meaning "blue".
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