Parrots (Psittacidae)

Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) - HBW 4, p. 343

French: Loriquet à tête bleue German: Allfarblori Spanish: Lori Arcoiris
Other common names: Green-naped/Red-breasted/Coconut Lorikeet, Rainbow Lory; Red-collared Lorikeet (rubritorquis)

Taxonomy: Psittacus hæmatod . [sic] Linnaeus, 1771, Ambon.
Forms a superspecies with T. ornatus. Treatment of rubritorquis as a separate species is unsustainable without an extensive revision of whole of present species; birds of Lesser Sundas are at least as distinctive, and the case of the small green weberi presents a particular challenge to the present arrangement, although the view that it is closer to T. euteles than to present species appears mistaken. Three broad groups may be defined: (1) breast red and unbarred (first four races listed below); (2) breast yellow or green without dark barring (fortis to flavotectus); and (3) breast red and in general heavily to faintly barred (rosenbergii through to moluccanus); rubritorquis might be considered to form a fourth group. New Guinean populations of nominate race sometimes separated as race berauensis; proposed race caeruleiceps probably not separable from nigrogularis. Twenty subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

mitchellii G. R. Gray, 1859 - Bali and Lombok.
forsteni Bonaparte, 1850 - Sumbawa.
djampeanus Hartert, 1897 - Tanahjampea.

See all 20 subspecies

mitchellii G. R. Gray, 1859 - Bali and Lombok.
forsteni Bonaparte, 1850 - Sumbawa.
djampeanus Hartert, 1897 - Tanahjampea.
stresemanni Meise, 1929 - Kalaotoa.
fortis Hartert, 1898 - Sumba.
weberi (Büttikofer, 1894) - Flores.
capistratus (Bechstein, 1811) - Timor.
flavotectus Hellmayr, 1914 - Wetar and Romang.
rosenbergii Schlegel, 1873 - Biak I, off N Irian Jaya.
intermedius Rothschild & Hartert, 1901 - N New Guinea and Manam I from R Sepik E to Astrolabe Bay.
haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) - S Moluccas and W Papuan Is E to NW New Guinea as far as Humboldt Bay and S New Guinea as far as upper R Fly; possibly W Kai Is.
nigrogularis G. R. Gray, 1858 - E Kai Is, Aru Is (except Spirit I) and S New Guinea from lower R Fly to Princess Marianne Straits.
brooki Ogilvie-Grant, 1907 - Spirit I, Aru Is.
micropteryx Stresemann, 1922 - E New Guinea E from Huon Peninsula in N, including Bagabag I, and Hall Sound in S.
nesophilus Neumann, 1929 - Ninigo and Hermit Groups, W of Manus.
flavicans Cabanis & Reichenow, 1876 - Admiralty Is and New Hanover.
massena Bonaparte, 1854 - Karkar I, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Is and Vanuatu.
deplanchii J. Verreaux & Des Murs, 1860 - New Caledonia and Loyalty Is.
moluccanus (J. F. Gmelin, 1788) - Torres Strait islands, E & SE Australia and Tasmania.
rubritorquis Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 - N Australia.