Hispaniolan Parakeet

About the Hispaniolan Parakeet

The Hispaniolan parakeet (Psittacara chloropterus) is a Vulnerable species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. In the former country it is called "perico" and in the latter "perruche".

The Hispaniolan parakeet was for a time placed in the genus Aratinga but from about 2013 has been in its present genus Psittacara. The International Ornithological Committee, the American Ornithological Society, and the Clements taxonomy consider the Hispaniolan parakeet to be monotypic. They previously treated what is now the Puerto Rican parakeet (P. maugei) as a subspecies. BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World retains that former treatment (the Puerto Rican parakeet is now extinct; it had occurred on Mona Island and probably on the main island of Puerto Rico).

The Hispaniolan parakeet has at times been suggested to be conspecific with the white-eyed parakeet (P. leucophthalmus); it and the Cuban parakeet (P. euops) form a superspecies. The Hispaniolan parakeet is 30 to 33 cm (12 to... Wikipedia →