Text extracted from Gill B.J.; Bell, B.D.; Chambers, G.K.; Medway, D.G.; Palma, R.L.; Scofield, R.P.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. 4th edition. Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand. Pages 249-251.

Order PSITTACIFORMES: Cockatoos, Parrots and Parakeets New molecular data and analyses support a view that the two subfamilies Strigopinae and Nestorinae form a single clade basal to all other Recent members of the order Psittaciformes (e.g. de Kloet & de Kloet 2005, Astuti et al. 2006, Tokita et al. 2007, Wright et al. 2008). They therefore need to be put in a family of their own (rather than in Psittacidae, e.g. Checklist Committee 1990) placed ahead of Cacatuidae in the systematic list. The name Strigopidae G.R. Gray, 1848 has priority.

Family STRIGOPIDAE: Käkäpö and Allies Subfamily NESTORINAE: Käkä and Kea Nestorinae Bonaparte, 1849: Consp. Syst. Ornith.: 1 – Type genus Nestor Lesson, 1830.

Genus Nestor Lesson Nestor Lesson, 1830: Traité d’Ornith. 3: 190 – Type species (by monotypy) Nestor novaezelandiae Lesson, 1830 = Nestor meridionalis (Gmelin). Centrourus Swainson, 1837: Cabinet Cyclopaedia 92(2): 303 – Type species (by monotypy) Psittacus australis Shaw, 1792 = Nestor meridionalis (Gmelin). Centrurus Strickland, 1841: Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., London 7: 34. Unjustified emendation. Doreenia Mathews, 1930: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 50: 41 – Type species (by original designation) Nestor notabilis Gould.

Endemic to the New Zealand region, including Norfolk Island. Fossil bones from the Chatham Islands are of uncertain specific and subspecific status.

Nestor meridionalis (Gmelin) Kaka New Zealand. Two subspecies have been recognised on morphological and behavioural characters (Buller 1873, Higgins 1999), but recent molecular analyses using nuclear allozyme and microsatellite loci show very little genetic differentiation between them (Huggins 2001, Sainsbury 2004).

Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis Lorenz North Island Kaka Nestor septentrionalis Lorenz, 1896: Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien 46: 198 – North Island. Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis Lorenz; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 53.

North Island, from Mangamuka (Northland) to Rimutaka and Aorangi Ranges and on offshore islands (Hen and Chickens, Great Barrier (Aotea) and Hauturu / Little Barrier, Fanal (Motokino), Rakitu (Arid), Mayor (Tuhua) and Kapiti Islands). Straggles to isolated bush patches, sometimes to towns and cities and to other islands (e.g. Poor Knights and Mokohinau Islands). Common as a fossil throughout the North Island; common in middens, but seldom in large numbers.

Nestor meridionalis meridionalis (Gmelin) South Island Kaka Psittacus meridionalis Gmelin, 1788: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(1): 333. Based on the “Southern Brown Parrot” of Latham 1781, Gen. Synop. Birds 1: 264 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland. Psittacus nestor Latham, 1790: Index Ornith. 1: 110 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland. Psittacus australis Shaw, 1792: Mus. Leverianum: 87 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland. Psittacus hypopolius J.R. Forster, 1794: Mag. merkwürdigen neuen Reise Beschreibungen 11(3): 313, footnote – New Zealand and Norfolk Island, restricted to Dusky Sound, Fiordland (fide Steinheimer et al. 2008, Notornis 55(1): 35). Psittacus (Kakadoe) nestor Latham; Kuhl 1820, Consp. Psittacorum: 86. Nestor Novae Zelandiae Lesson, 1830: Traité d’Ornith. 3: 191 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland. Nestor hypopolius Wagler, 1832: Abh. Kl. Bayer Akad. Wiss. 1: 505, 696 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland. Junior secondary homonym of Psittacus hypopolius J.R. Forster, 1794. Centrourus australis (Shaw); Swainson 1837, Cabinet Cyclopaedia 92(2): 303. Psittacus hypopolius J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 72 – South Island. Junior primary homonym of Psittacus hypopolius J.R. Forster, 1794. Nestor australis (Shaw); G.R. Gray 1845, Gen. Birds 2: 426. Nestor Hypopolius (J.R. Forster); Bonaparte 1854, Revue Mag. Zool. 6 (2nd series): 155. Nestor Novae-Zelandiae Lesson; Bonaparte 1854, Revue Mag. Zool. 6 (2nd series): 155. Nestor Esslingii Souancé, 1856: Revue Mag. Zool. 8 (2nd series): 223 – “Philips Island”, probably error for Marlborough District (fide Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th ser.): 424). Nestor meridionalis (Gmelin); G.R. Gray, 1862: Ibis 4: 229. Nestor esslingii Souancé; G.R. Gray, 1862: Ibis 4: 230. Nestor superbus Buller, 1865: Essay N.Z. Ornith.: 11 – alpine districts of the South Island. Nestor montanus Finsch, 1868: Journ. für Ornith. 16: 242 – alpine heights of the South Island. Nestor occidentalis Buller, 1869: Ibis 5 (n. ser.): 40 – Westland. Nestor meridionalis var. esslingii Souancé; Buller 1888, History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1: 152. Nestor esslingi Souancé; Buller 1905, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 77. Unjustified emendation. Nestor meridionalis meridionalis (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 54.

South Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura and some offshore islands (e.g. D’Urville, Inner Chetwode, Bench, Codfish (Whenuahou) and Taukihepa / Big South Cape Islands). Chiefly west of the main divide and in Marlborough. Extends into Canterbury at lower mountain passes (e.g. Arthur’s Pass); also throughout the Southern Lakes District. An occasional straggler to coastal Canterbury and Otago. Common as a fossil throughout the South Island (Dawson 1952).