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The Underwing-Covert Stripe As an Additional Character Defining Platycercine Parrots

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The Underwing-Covert Stripe As an Additional Character Defining Platycercine Parrots AUSTRALIAN 194 BIRD WATCHER The Underwing-covert Stripe as an Additional Character Defining Platycercine Parrots The platycercine or broad-tailed parrots are defined by most species possessing a pale wing-stripe on. the remiges, a 'shoulder-squaring' (='wing-shrugging') mating display, and a contrasting pale nape-spot (Lendon 1940, 1941, 1973; Smith 1975; Courtney 1997a). Another factor of similar taxonomic value is now evident: a narrow pale stripe across the grey greater underwing-coverts (Figure l). Previously recorded only for the Eastern Rosella Platycercus eximius (Wyndham & Brereton 1982), Crimson Rosella P elegans, Ground Parrot Pezoporus wallicus, and Budgerigar Melopsittacus undulatus (Courtney 1997a), the plates and/or text in Higgins (1999) show this feature in some juveniles of the Crimson Rosella, Eastern Rosella, Pale-headed Rosella Platycercus adscitus, Western Rosella? icterotis, Australian RingneckBamardius zonarius, Red-capped Parrot Purpureicephalus spurius, Swift Parrot Lathamus discolor, Red-rumped Parrot Psephotus haematonotus, Mulga Parrot P varius, and Red-crowned Parakeet Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae. To occur so widely among species and genera that are closely related, this stripe is likely to be an ancestral feature and, therefore, of taxonomic value, especially because it has no obvious function and is unlikely to have evolved convergently. The presence of this stripe on the greater underwing-coverts in one species of Cyanoramphus is especially significant, for Christidis et al. (1991) using protein analysis were unable to positively connect this genus to the other species listed above, casting doubt on the place of Cyanoramphus in the platycercines contra Smith (1975) and Hornberger (1980, 1991). This situation also applies to Pezoporus. As possession of this feature demonstrates relationship, that it is not mentioned for the Ground Parrot in Higgins (1999), contra Courtney (1997a), needs clarifying. In two juveniles and one 15-year-old adult closely examined (Courtney 1997a), the pale bar or stripe on the greater underwing-coverts adjacent to the secondaries was present on both vanes of each feather from one-third to halfway from the base, and was not merely a pale tip as described in Higgins (1999). The Budgerigar, too, is considered distant from those above species on the basis of protein analysis (Christidis et al. 1991 ). Only one wild-type Budgerigar (provenance unknown) was available to Courtney (1997a), and it had a most distinct pale yellow bar across both vanes of the greater underwing-coverts. The specimen feather retained had a grey base followed by a complete yellow bar with the distal half of the feather grey, tipped with pale yellow. A bar is not mentioned in Higgins (1999); thus, this feature either was obscured by overlapping feathers in the specimens examined or does not occur in all individuals. The latter possibility, however, is unlikely in view of the prominent, permanent barring elsewhere in the plumage of this species. The existence of a pale wing-stripe on the remiges, and its nature, identifies the platycercines as a group and indicates relationships among the species. Courtney (1997a, b) recorded two stripes on the secondaries in the Ground Parrot, differing from the single stripe of other platycercines. In Higgins (1999) the second stripe on the secondaries is not mentioned although it is illustrated, albeit poorly. The removal of the Night Parrot, formerly Geopsittacus occidentalis, VOL. 19 (6-7) JUNE-SEPT. 2002 Underwing-covert Stripe in Platycercines 195 Underwir:g - co~..-ert stripe \ Ning- str:i_p.:: on remiges Figure 1. Sketch ofundeiwing of Eastern RosellaP/atycercus eximius, showing the two undeiwing stripes: one on the remiges, one on the greater underwing-coverts. Drawing: G.A. Smith from that genus to Pezoporus, on the basis of its alleged close relationship to the Ground Parrot (Christidis & Boles 1994, Leeton et al. 1994), caused Courtney (1997b) to assume (apparently incorrectly) that the Night Parrot would have two stripes on the secondaries, like the Ground Parrot. Instead, the wing-stripe on the remiges is described as broad on the secondaries and narrow on the primaries (Higgins 1999). This is the pattern described for the Budgerigar in Higgins (1999), and also by Courtney (1997a) who speculated that the breadth of the stripe on the Budgerigar's secondaries may have evolved from the merging of two stripes. This is yet another difference between Ground and Night Parrots as listed by Courtney (1997b), and another similarity between the Budgerigar and one of the other two, linking all three in a loose assemblage. It is concluded that the greater underwing-covert stripe is yet another feature demonstrating common ancestry in a group of parrots that have otherwise diverged widely, possibly over a long period. This stripe rates with the underwing stripe on the remiges as a character uniting the platycercines in a coherent group. I thank Professor Dominique Hornberger (Louisiana State University) and George A. Smith (of Peterborough, U.K.) for commenting most helpfully on a draft, and the latter for providing the sketch of a rosella's underwing. I also thank Andrew Ley, Stephen Debus and Julia Hurley for editing. References Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. (1994), The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories, RAOU Monograph 2, Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, Melbourne. Christidis, L. , Schodde, R., Shaw, D.D. & Maynes, S.F. (1991), 'Relationships among the Australo-Papuan parrots, lorikeets, and cockatoos (Aves: Psittaciformes): protein evidence', Condor 93, 302-317. Courtney, J. (1997a), 'The juvenile food-begging calls and associated aspects in the Australian "broad-tailed" (platycercine) parrots', Australian Bird Watcher 17, 169- 184. Courtney, J. (1997b), 'Age-related colour changes and behaviour in the Ground Parrot Pezoporus wa!licus', Australian Bird Watcher 17, 185-191. Higgins, P.J.JEd.) (1999), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, vol. 4, Oxford nivers1ty Press, Melbourne. AUSTRALIAN 196 COUR1NEY BIRD WATCHER Hornberger, D.G. (1980), 'Funktionell-morphologische Untersuchungen zur Radiation der Ernahrungs- und trinkmethoden der Papageien (Psittaci)', Bonner Zoologische Monographien 13, 1- 192. Hornberger, D.G. (1991), 'The evolutionary history of parrots and cockatoos: a model for evolution in the Australasian avifauna', Acta XX Congressus Jntemationalis Omithologicus, 398-403. Leeton, P.R.J., Christidis, L., Westerman, M. & Boles, W.E. (1994), 'Molecular phylogenetic affinities of the Nightfarrot (Geopsittacus occidentalis) and the Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus)', Auk 111, 833-843. Lendon, A.H. (1940), 'The wing-stripe in broadtailed parrots', South Australian Ornithologist 15, 87- 94. Lendon, A.H. (1941), 'The "wing-stripe" as an indication of sex and maturity in the Australian broadtailed parrots', Avicultural Magazine 6, 174-181. Lendon, A.H. (1973), Neville W Cayley's Australian Parrots in Field and Aviary, Angus & Robertson, Sydney. Smith, G.A. (1975), 'Systematics of parrots', Ibis 117, 18--68. Wyndham, E. & Brereton, J. Le G. (1982), 'Ageing and sexing Eastern Rosellas', Corella 6, 89-91. JOHN COURTNEY, 40 Sapphire Street, Inverell, N.S. W. 2360 Received 25 February 2002 • .
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