Tuesday, April 22, 2008

True Parrots


The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes (parrots). The other family is the Cacatuidae (cockatoos) which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots. True parrots are more widespread than cockatoos, with species in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and eastwards across the Pacific Ocean as far as Polynesia.
The true parrot family is often considered to contain two subfamilies, the Psittacinae (typical parrots and allies) and the Loriinae (Lories and lorikeets). However, there are other systems of classification and these two groups are sometimes ascribed full family status, being called Psittacidae and Loriidae. This does not seem to be warranted however, though treating cockatoos and certain lineages of true parrots at equal taxonomic rank (but not as families) may well be so; see below for why.

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