Cacatua
Cacatua is a genus of cockatoos found from the Philippines and Wallacea east to the Solomon Islands and south to Australia. They have a primarily white plumage (in some species tinged pinkish or yellow), an expressive crest, and a black (subgenus Cacatua) or pale (subgenus Licmetis) bill. Today, several species from this genus are considered threatened due to a combination of habitat loss and capture for the wild bird trade, with the blue-eyed cockatoo, Moluccan cockatoo, and umbrella cockatoo considered vulnerable, and the red-vented cockatoo and yellow-crested cockatoo considered critically endangered.
Cacatua | |
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Cacatua galerita | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Psittaciformes |
Family: | Cacatuidae |
Subfamily: | Cacatuinae |
Genus: | Cacatua Vieillot, 1817 |
Type species | |
Cacatua galerita Latham, 1790 | |
Species | |
11, see text |
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The genus was first described by Brisson in 1790, with the white cockatoo (C. alba) subsequently designated as the type species. Georges Cuvier defined the genus Kakatoe in 1800, with the red-vented cockatoo (C. haematuropygia) as the type, and some older bird books use the latter name. Mayr, Keast and Serventy validated Cacatua in 1964, and dismissed Kakatoe.[1]
Species
Subgenus | Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
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Cacatua - true white cockatoos | ![]() |
Yellow-crested (or lesser sulphur-crested) cockatoo, | Cacatua (Cacatua) sulphurea | East Timor and Indonesia's islands of Sulawesi and the Lesser Sundas |
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Sulphur-crested cockatoo | Cacatua (Cacatua) galerita | Australia, and New Guinea and some of the islands of Indonesia | |
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Blue-eyed cockatoo | Cacatua (Cacatua) ophthalmica | New Britain in Papua New Guinea | |
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White (or umbrella) cockatoo | Cacatua (Cacatua) alba | Halmahera, Bacan, Ternate, Tidore, Kasiruta and Mandioli (Bacan group) in North Maluku, Indonesia | |
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Salmon-crested (or Moluccan) cockatoo | Cacatua (Cacatua) moluccensis | Seram archipelago in eastern Indonesia | |
Licmetis - corellas | ![]() |
Long-billed corella | Cacatua (Licmetis) tenuirostris | Australia |
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Western corella | Cacatua (Licmetis) pastinator | South-western Australia | |
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Little corella | Cacatua (Licmetis) sanguinea | Australia and southern New Guinea | |
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Tanimbar corella (or Goffin's cockatoo) | Cacatua (Licmetis) goffiniana | Yamdena, Larat and Selaru, all islands in the Tanimbar Islands archipelago in Indonesia | |
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Solomons cockatoo (or Ducorps's cockatoo) | Cacatua (Licmetis) ducorpsii | Solomon Islands archipelago | |
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Red-vented (or Philippine) cockatoo | Cacatua (Licmetis) haematuropygia | Philippines | |
References
- Mayr EW, Keast A, Serventy DL (1964). "The name Cacatua Brisson, 1760 (Aves): Proposed validation under the Plenary Powers Z.N. (S.) 1647". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 21: 372–74.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cacatua. |
- Juniper, T., & M. Parr (1998). A Guide to the Parrots of the World. Pica Press, East Sussex. ISBN 1-873403-40-2