Golden-winged parakeet
The golden-winged parakeet is a species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Taxonomy and systematics
The golden-winged parakeet was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus chrysopterus. Linnaeus based his description on the "golden-winged parakeet" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the English naturalist George Edwards in the second volume of his Gleanings of Natural History. Edwards was uncertain about the origin of his specimen. Linnaeus specified the type location as "India". It was redesignated as "Guiana" in 1912. The golden-winged parakeet is now one of eight species placed in the genus Brotogeris that was introduced in 1925 by Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek brotogērus meaning "with human voice". The specific epithet chrysoptera is from the Ancient Greek khrusopteros meaning "golden-winged".Five subspecies of golden-winged parakeet are recognized:B. c. chrysoptera B. c. tenuifrons Friedmann, 1945B. c. solimoensis Gyldenstolpe, 1941B. c. tuipara B. c. chrysosema Sclater, PL, 1864
B. c. solimoensis has sometimes been included in the nominate B. c. chrysoptera. Subspecies B. c. tuipara and B. c. chrysosema have sometimes been treated as separate species. The golden-winged and cobalt-winged parakeet are sister species.
Description
The golden-winged parakeet is about long and weighs. The species is almost entirely green. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a browish frontal band above the bill, and orange-brown spot on the chin, and bright orange primary coverts. Subspecies B. c. tuipara has an orange frontal band and chin and yellow edges on the outer tail feathers. B. c. chrysosema has a yellowish orange frontal band and yellow primary coverts. B. c. solimoensis is like chrysosema but with a paler frontal band. B. c. tenuifrons has yellow edges on the outer tail feathers like tuipara but no frontal band. Immature birds have entirely green wings.Distribution and habitat
The subspecies of the golden-winged parakeet are found thus:B. c. chrysoptera, from northeastern Venezuela southeast through the Guianas and into adjoining north-central BrazilB. c. tenuifrons, along the upper Rio Negro in northwestern BrazilB. c. solimoensis, north-central Brazil along the middle Amazon between the municipality of Codajás and ManausB. c. tuipara, north-central Brazil south of the Amazon between the Tapajós River and the Atlantic coast in MaranhãoB. c. chrysosema, along the Madeira River and its tributaries from northeastern Bolivia into western Brazil's Mato Grosso stateIn most of its range the golden-winged parakeet inhabits undisturbed lowland rainforest, secondary forest, savanna, coastal woodlands, and towns. North of the Orinoco River in Venezuela it inhabits cloudforest as high as.