Green Rosella

SCI Name:  Platycercus caledonicus
Protonym:  Psittacus caledonicus Syst.Nat. 1 pt1 p.328
Taxonomy:  Psittaciformes / Psittaculidae / Platycercus
Taxonomy Code:  greros2
Type Locality:  New Caledonia, error = Tasmania and fixed as Adventure Bay by Mathews, Bds. Austr., 6, p. 324.
Author:  Gmelin, JF
Publish Year:  1788
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PLATYCERCUS
(Psittacidae; Ϯ Crimson Rosella P. elegans) Gr. πλατυκερκος platukerkos  broad-tailed, flat-tailed  < πλατυς platus  broad; κερκος kerkos  tail; "Genus PLATYCERCUS.  Rostrum breviusculum, mandibula superiore rotundata, dilata, inferiore brevis, profunde emarginata, apice quadrato, myxa convexa, glabris integra: naribus rotundis, in ceromate angusto medio emarginato, positis.  Alæ rotundatæ; remigum, prima excepta, pogonio externo abrupte propre medium emarginato; prima 2^da breviore, 5^tæ præcipue æquali secunda et tertia longissimis.  Cauda lata depressa, subrotundata, gradata; rectricibus apice subrotundis.  Pedes, tarsis elevatis; acrotarsiis reticulatis; digitis gracilibus, elongatis; unguibus longis, parum falcatis.   Typus genericus, Ps. Pennantii, Lath.  The interesting group that forms the present division of the Psittacidæ, is at first sight immediately recognized as distinct from all those which are included under the general name of long-tailed Parrots, and which M. Kuhl has separated as a section with the title of Conurus, by the breadth, depression, and rounded apex of the tail: the greater number of the other groups in the same section having that member narrowed and cuneated.  The wings also like the tail are rounded, the first quill feather being shorter than the second; whereas in most of the neighbouring long-tailed groups the first and second quill feathers are of equal length.  All the primary quill feathers except the first are marked by an abrupt emargination of the outer web near the middle, which seems peculiar to the present division of the long-tailed Psittacidæ, with the exception of that of Pezoporus, Ill." (Vigors 1825); "Platycercus Vigors, Zool. Journ., 1, 1825, p. 527. Type, by original designation, Psittacus pennantii Latham = Psittacus elegans Gmelin." (Peters 1937, III, 260).  
Var. Platycircus, Platycercen.
Synon. Hesperopsittacus, Violania.

platycercus
Gr. πλατυκερκος platukerkos  broad-tailed, flat-tailed  < πλατυς platus  broad; κερκος kerkos  tail.

caledonica / caledonicus
New Caledonia, sighted by Captain Cook in 1774, and so named because its forested and mountainous aspect reminded him of Scotland (L. Caledonia  highlands of Scotland).
● ex “New-Caledonian Crow” of Latham 1781 (Coracina).
● ex “Caledonian Night-Heron” of Latham 1785 (Nycticorax).
● ex “Olive Fly-catcher” of Latham 1783 (Pachycephala).
● Erroneous TL. New Caledonia (= Tasmania); ex “Caledonian Parrot” of Latham 1781 (Platycercus).
● Erroneous TL. New Caledonia (= Buton I., Celebes); ex “Caledonian Crow” of Latham 1801 (syn. Streptocitta albicollis).