Green Parakeet

About the Green Parakeet

The green parakeet (Psittacara holochlorus), green conure, or Mexican green conure is a New World parrot. As defined by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), it is native to Mexico and southern Texas in the Rio Grande Valley.

The green parakeet was formally described in 1859 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater under the binomial name Conurus holochlorus based on a specimen that had been collected near the town of Xalapa in the state Veracruz of southern Mexico. The specific epithet holochlorus is from Classical Greek ὁλοχλωρος/holokhlōros meaning "all-green" or "all-yellow". The green parakeet was formerly placed in the genus Aratinga, but is now one of 12 species placed in the resurrected genus Psittacara that was introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors.

Three subspecies are recognised: P. h. brewsteri (Nelson, 1928) – northwest Mexico P. h. holochlorus (Sclater, PL, 1859) – east, south Mexico P. h. rubritorquis (Sclater, PL, 1887) – south Guatemala, Honduras and north Nicaragua

The subspecies P. h. rubritorquis has sometimes been considered as a separate species, the red-throated parakeet. The Socorro parakeet... Wikipedia →