Racket-tail
The genus Prioniturus, commonly known as racket-tails, contains ten species in the parrot family Psittaculidae that are found in the Philippines and Indonesia. They are easily distinguished from all other parrots by their elongated central tail feathers with the bare shaft and spatula at the end.
Taxonomy
The genus Prioniturus was introduced in 1832 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler to accommodate a single species, Psittacus platurus Vieillot, the golden-mantled racket-tail. This is the type species of the genus. The word Prioniturus combines the genus name Prionites introduced for the motmots by the German zoologist Johann Illiger in 1811, with the Ancient Greek ουρα/oura meaning "tail".The genus contains ten species:
- Buru racket-tail, Prioniturus mada – Buru
- Golden-mantled racket-tail, Prioniturus platurus – Sulawesi, satellites and Celebes Sea islands.
- Mindanao racket-tail, Prioniturus waterstradti – montane Mindanao
- Montane racket-tail, Prioniturus montanus – montane north Luzon
- Blue-headed racket-tail, Prioniturus platenae – Palawan group
- Mindoro racket-tail, Prioniturus mindorensis – Mindoro
- Blue-winged racket-tail, Prioniturus verticalis – Sulu Archipelago
- Yellow-breasted racket-tail, Prioniturus flavicans – north Sulawesi, Bangka Island and Lembeh and Togian Islands
- Green racket-tail, Prioniturus luconensis – Luzon
- Blue-crowned racket-tail, Prioniturus discurus – Philippines